One huge category of utterances remains unrepresented:
“Ooh, is there a new Methods of Rationality chapter up yet?”
“I can’t believe there’s no new chapter yet.”
“Have you read Methods of Rationality? You have to read it, OMG.”
mindspillage
Karma: 515
I co-drafted the new version of the Creative Commons licenses which has been released at long, long last.
I’ve taken up gymnastics classes after a break of about 20 years. Have managed to get a back walkover without killing myself. (Still working on the back handspring I was terrible at as a child.)
“In war you will generally find that the enemy has at any time three courses of action open to him. Of those three, he will invariably choose the fourth.” —Helmuth Von Moltke
(quoted in “Capturing the Potential of Outlier Ideas in the Intelligence Community”, via Bruce Schneier)
I took it.
I think some of the “pick one” options were too broadly grouped, though any multiple-choice is going to be. I’d have preferred a “no preference” for “relationship style”, for example, and more political options. Also I’m not sure what counts as “participates actively” in other groups—I’ve been a member of transhumanism-related groups for over a decade, for example, but am mostly a lurker; I did not check the box.
I would have been interested in seeing a question about involvement in offline activities like local meetups, or participation in IRC/other LW venues.
Thanks for running the survey!
I have had exactly one load of laundry go wrong ever due to colors running. (Purple.) I pretty much blatantly ignore washing directions, except for formalwear and business suits. If something cannot survive being thrown in with the regular wash, it’s too much trouble to keep. (It helps that I thrift the vast majority of my wardrobe, so I’m rarely out more than $5 or so if something is ruined.)
I had my suspicions about Santa pretty early—as a too-curious preschooler snooping in my parents’ bedroom, I found boxes for some gifts that had been “from Santa”; my mother had made up some story explaining it. Later (6 or 7 years old?) I found a page stuffed into a drawer that had been ripped out of a book—it explained how to tell your kids that Santa wasn’t real. I read all of the books on the shelf at home, including the parenting book; that was the bit of knowledge my parents wanted to hide from me! (I suppose they thought I would be too young to understand some of the other stuff I’d find, but that I would understand that if I found it. My parents really had no idea how to deal with a young voracious reader.)
So I knew that Santa wasn’t real but that my parents (my mother, really) cared that I not find out. I don’t think Santa in particular affected me much in part because I was a voracious reader—I knew a lot of things that were different than what my parents told me, and I also knew that most parents were advised that kids might not be ready to know them. (Like I said, I read their parenting book.)
Knowing that I couldn’t trust my parents to tell me the truth about a lot of things (not just Santa) because they thought it better that I know a pleasant lie, and also that they really had no idea what I was and wasn’t ready to hear, had a tremendous effect on me. I didn’t trust them even when I should have, in fact; I rarely trusted people to be telling me the whole truth or to have good judgment about what I should and shouldn’t be doing. (I also grew up in a weird household, the main thing being that my mother was hospitalized for mental illness when I was 11.) It was good for me in some ways—but there are some big things I should have sought someone’s guidance for, if not my parents’, but I simply had no idea how to go about it or even that I should.
Reminds me of advice to people who want to know if they can sue someone: You can always sue. You just can’t always expect to win.
I’d be surprised if there are any of us who don’t have some gap in knowledge that a majority of the rest of us found surprising. But really I can’t think of any knowledge of this type I’m missing that I can’t just look up (rather than ask here) if I realize that I don’t have it. (Things of this type I can recall looking up in the past few years: ordering at a bar, dialing international phone numbers, reaching someone at a phone extension, getting a cashier’s check from a bank, how to properly wear a suit jacket, how to read facial expressions and make small talk.)
I like wikihow, ehow, and similar sites—and I also find that guides intended for recent immigrants or people with autism are useful for “things everyone is supposed to know”.
Some of this reminds me of a talk by Sumana Harihareswara, a friend of mine in the free software community, where she tries to exmaine which strange and offputting things are necessary and which are needlessly driving people away: Inessential Weirdnesses in Free Software
I think there are in fact a lot of parallels between issues in free software and the rationalist community—similarly devaluing Hufflepuff skills even when they’re necessary to get the full value out of everyone’s contributions, similarly having concerns about not watering down the core philosophical commitments while still being open to newcomers and people who are not yet committed to the entire culture.
(FWIW, I am a weakly-connected member of the Bay Area rationalist community—it’s not what I think of as my primary community so I’m not particularly present.)
The recent East Bay solstice was my first one. (I’m not usually enthusiastic about rituals or very large social events where I don’t know many people—but I do enjoy singing with friendly people, so I came as part of the choir.)
I was pleasantly surprised by how not odd it was. It felt quite a lot like other ritual-type events I’ve gone to—church services, memorial events, formulaic holiday celebrations, etc.: much reinforcing of common themes for the group and reference to shared values and oft-repeated material. It was not as in-groupy as I expected—I could have imagined taking a friend who was not part of the community and not needing to explain much about it; it was mostly appealing to the broadest part of the community rather than deep insider references. (And here I realize I still count myself as in the community even though my recent involvement is mostly passive!)
I also appreciated the group activity of writing down meaningful encouragements and posting them on the wall: it gave a sense of who was in the room and the chance to show the best parts of themselves—and something easily visible to make conversation with strangers about during breaks. It did remind me of the sort of activity you might do at a company retreat, but the better kind! I wouldn’t mind seeing that repeated.
Something else I’ve had to look up: how to convincingly dress like a grownup. (By which I mean less casual than t-shirts and jeans, work-appropriate, flattering, not looking like I just stepped out of a sci-fi movie or an art school.) There are some sites for female style advice I’ve found interesting and helpful (and edited to remove one I used to like that has gone off the rails).
I think that one of the most valuable things I got out of my legal education is that I learned conservative (fiscal and social) political and legal theories from people who believe it themselves, not from people who were treating it as a caricature or a strawman. (And liberal ones too, but that’s not so uncommon an experience. I identify as a “liberaltarian” myself.)
I live in the nonprofitiverse, where “capitalist” is usually a slur. (With some notable exceptions.) It’s pretty hard to get people to listen to you once you’ve said the word “capitalist”—but if you bring up some of these points without naming them many of even the least sympathetic to “capitalism” would agree. (Similarly, I’ve seen Tea Partier signs that could have come straight from liberal talking points.)
I find it a lot easier to read about economic systems I don’t agree with than social systems I don’t agree with—I may think someone proposing an economic policy I find wrongheaded is wrong, but not immoral. Whereas there are many social policies I find not just wrong but abhorrent, enough that I have a hard time taking their proponents seriously.
Are there any significant differences in gender or age (or anything else notable) between the group who chose to keep their responses private and the rest of the respondents?
This is true, but implying that you see it the same way you see smoking also may come off as passing judgment on the drinkers, which won’t endear you to them.
Well, the ones who rail against it are the ones who get most of the press time… “My school encourages using appropriate references to the extent that such use is appropriate for its purpose” doesn’t attract much attention.
I give talks and workshops about Wikipedia. It is shocking how many people think they know how Wikipedia works and how to use it who really have no idea. The educators who forbid it aren’t thinking of it as a jumping-off point for further research, and they don’t actually know how the content is produced and maintained, or at least have never thought about the implications of their beliefs.
(My very favorite clever phrase describing my feelings comes from the name of a Facebook group: “Abolish abstinence-only Wikipedia education.”)
I am far more lax than most people I know also—when I was growing up there were leftovers, but we couldn’t afford to waste them unless they were really not good; I was still broke in college and would not turn my nose up at things other people were wary of. I have never been completely stupid about it, but I am not terribly afraid of food poisoning either, mostly because it barely registers on the list of risky activities I should worry about. (For comparison, I am convinced that my lack of driving skill would seriously injure myself or others, and so I don’t drive, which apparently makes me weird.)
I have had food poisoning a handful of times—but mostly under conditions that even conscientiously hygienic people would consider fine… and once from dubious food while traveling, because really if you do not eat the street food you are wasting your airfare.
(gwillen, I swear I am not deliberately following you around!)
Tangentially: that is in fact my wet-type earwax illustrating the Wikipedia article. (Picture taken by my partner. No terrible story.)
I like this, and also “I don’t quite understand why [X]”, which puts them in the pleasant position of explaining to me from a position of superiority—or sometimes realizing that they can’t.
Unless I’ve misunderstood, I don’t recommend this. When I was a retail clerk, I would make extra effort to fulfil an unusual request for someone who was polite to me, but not for someone who wasn’t. You can say “please” and be polite without acting subservient. Asking for something strange seems fine, though.
(I usually think of people who don’t treat service workers kindly as low-status—like they desperately would like to have the power to order someone else around without regard for their feelings but have no other avenue to do it. )
--A.L. Kitselman