Yes, I think rationalism is a vague sociological grouping, which adheres to a general ontology and set of, and also threads of, cultural norms. Mostly inspired by Yudkowsky and The Sequences. I was drawn to EA and then rationalism because ‘hippie’ alone isn’t effective enough, particularly altruistically. In the context of 80 billion animals on factory farms and an impending AI apocalypse I found the hippie space had little to offer. I like that rationalists look for better answers to these problems than ‘let’s dance around a fire and send our good energy to the universe’. Plus rationalism is good at problem-solving. This is a meta-skill that very much helps a human achieve their goals, including goals like ‘I want to build a community in the woods and learn how to dissolve my boundaries and feel one with the forest’. But yeah, if rationalism wasn’t so concerned with AI safety, I would take what helped me and stay silent. To say I think AI safety is really important is a massive understatement. Naturally, a healthy AI safety community then, is also important. I think some ‘hippie’ concepts could bring a lot more health and balance to a community which may possibly decide the fate of the universe (as in, the community may possibly decide the fate of the universe).
Yes, I think rationalism is a vague sociological grouping, which adheres to a general ontology and set of, and also threads of, cultural norms. Mostly inspired by Yudkowsky and The Sequences. I was drawn to EA and then rationalism because ‘hippie’ alone isn’t effective enough, particularly altruistically. In the context of 80 billion animals on factory farms and an impending AI apocalypse I found the hippie space had little to offer. I like that rationalists look for better answers to these problems than ‘let’s dance around a fire and send our good energy to the universe’. Plus rationalism is good at problem-solving. This is a meta-skill that very much helps a human achieve their goals, including goals like ‘I want to build a community in the woods and learn how to dissolve my boundaries and feel one with the forest’. But yeah, if rationalism wasn’t so concerned with AI safety, I would take what helped me and stay silent. To say I think AI safety is really important is a massive understatement. Naturally, a healthy AI safety community then, is also important. I think some ‘hippie’ concepts could bring a lot more health and balance to a community which may possibly decide the fate of the universe (as in, the community may possibly decide the fate of the universe).