You might be right that we tend to focus on details too much, but I don’t think your example shows this.
when I asked for metrics to evaluate a presidency, few people actually provided any—most started debating the validity of metrics, and one subthread went off to discuss the appropriateness of the term “gender equality”.
All this shows is that we’re bad at solving the problem you asked us to solve. But it’s not like you’re paying us to solve it. We can choose to talk about whatever we find most interesting. That doesn’t mean we couldn’t solve the problem if we wanted to.
I completely agree. Almost all of us here have jobs/pursuits/studies that we are good at, and that require a lot of object-level problem solving. LW is a quiet corner where we come in our free time to discuss meta-level philosophical questions of rationality and have a good time. For these two goals, LW has also acquired a norm of not talking about object-level politics too much, because politics makes it hard to stay meta-level rational and isn’t always a good time.
Now with that said, you’re of course welcome to post an object-level political question on the forum. It’s an open community. But if people here don’t want to play along, you should take it as a sign that you missed something about LW, not that we miss something about answering questions practically.
Of course, you have the right to do whatever you want. But, if someone new to a group of rationalists asks a question with a clear expectation for a response, and gets philosophising as an answer, don’t be surprised if people get a perhaps unflattering view of rationalists.
My parents always told me “we only compare ourselves to the best”. I am only making these criticisms because rationalists self-define as, well, rational. And to be, rationality also has to do with achieving something. Pedantry, sophistry &c are unwelcome distractions.
I actually agree. I think one issue is that the kind of mind that is attraction to “rationality” as a topic also tends to be highly sensitive to perceived errors, and to be fond of taking things to the meta-level. These combine to lead to threads where nobody talks about the object-level questions. I frankly don’t even try to bring up object-level problems on Less Wrong.
You might be right that we tend to focus on details too much, but I don’t think your example shows this.
All this shows is that we’re bad at solving the problem you asked us to solve. But it’s not like you’re paying us to solve it. We can choose to talk about whatever we find most interesting. That doesn’t mean we couldn’t solve the problem if we wanted to.
I completely agree. Almost all of us here have jobs/pursuits/studies that we are good at, and that require a lot of object-level problem solving. LW is a quiet corner where we come in our free time to discuss meta-level philosophical questions of rationality and have a good time. For these two goals, LW has also acquired a norm of not talking about object-level politics too much, because politics makes it hard to stay meta-level rational and isn’t always a good time.
Now with that said, you’re of course welcome to post an object-level political question on the forum. It’s an open community. But if people here don’t want to play along, you should take it as a sign that you missed something about LW, not that we miss something about answering questions practically.
Of course, you have the right to do whatever you want. But, if someone new to a group of rationalists asks a question with a clear expectation for a response, and gets philosophising as an answer, don’t be surprised if people get a perhaps unflattering view of rationalists.
What websites are you using where pedantry, sophistry, tangents, and oblique criticism aren’t the default? Are you using the same Internet as me?
My parents always told me “we only compare ourselves to the best”. I am only making these criticisms because rationalists self-define as, well, rational. And to be, rationality also has to do with achieving something. Pedantry, sophistry &c are unwelcome distractions.
I actually agree. I think one issue is that the kind of mind that is attraction to “rationality” as a topic also tends to be highly sensitive to perceived errors, and to be fond of taking things to the meta-level. These combine to lead to threads where nobody talks about the object-level questions. I frankly don’t even try to bring up object-level problems on Less Wrong.