I don't know what happened at ACX, but whatever it is, it happened very fast. It is the same with Less Wrong. When I discovered those sites a few years ago they were clearly interesting. All kinds of people who like to think were there. Then something happened very fast, maybe mostly during the last year or two.
I don't know what happened at ACX, but whatever it is, it happened very fast. It is the same with Less Wrong. When I discovered those sites a few years ago they were clearly interesting. All kinds of people who like to think were there. Then something happened very fast, maybe mostly during the last year or two.
I'm thinking of Scott's post about the cycles of subcultures https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/a-cyclic-theory-of-subcultures to explain what happened. Rationalists are too peaceful to infight. Instead, when enough people found the rationalist movement, a core group formed and that core group was able to nudge more peripheral people out with sheer boredom. I have now given up on ACX and only glance at it once in a while. I enjoyed the meet-ups a lot, but I fear they are developing along the same route.
Huh. What was wrong with it? It's still sitting there with my own Like on it - the proverbial dollar you put in the tip jar to make people feel like it's normal to put more in.
> Scott's post about the cycles of subcultures
Well, I think that was already after the rot. Reading it over, it looks extremely close to other ideas bandied about online. But rather than getting rid of the pathological focus on status that rationalists always obsess over, it got rid of the psychopaths and Narcissists, who seriously exist, and are seriously obsessed about status, and if Meika Loofs Samorzewski could *ever* make any sense, I'd be seriously interested to read what he thought about it.
The fire went out at SSC/ACX because Scott stopped feeding it. At least, that's the way it looked to me: the smarter people caught on first, and boiled off. Those who remain remind me of the fanbase of the Reimagined Battlestar Galactica by season 4, after Saul Tigh "was a Cylon" and Starbuck "came back from Earth." Or, if you don't care about me bashing Christians, they remind me of Christians now that evolution is a thing.
Hey by the way, you kept recommending I read some lady's work, but I never had time. I have time now! What was her name again? She had ideas about religion...
It made me sad. Being human is so much about building things up, so the thought of it all being withered down wasn't pleasant at all.
>>The fire went out at SSC/ACX because Scott stopped feeding it
Ideally, smart people should be able to meet without anyone feeding them. But I guess that is more or less impossible.
>>Hey by the way, you kept recommending I read some lady's work, but I never had time. I have time now! What was her name again? She had ideas about religion...
> It made me sad. Being human is so much about building things up, so the thought of it all being withered down wasn't pleasant at all.
Wow. Your emotions are hard for me to read. When I think about the lost and distant past, I'm not sad. I experience a sense of eerieness and awe, blending into psychogenic chills. For me, "...and they were never heard from again" is an inspiring, satisfying end to a story.
> Ideally, smart people should be able to meet without anyone feeding them. But I guess that is more or less impossible.
Unfortunately I didn't go to Scott's blog to meet people; I went there to read his posts.
That's the odd thing about social behaviors - they're what really make us happy, in the deepest and most enduring way. But you can't get the rewards on purpose - you can't be social *just* to be social. There has to be some kind of other purpose there, like raising a barn, playing a video game, or burning a witch. Afterwards the survivors all feel great, and they all have plenty to talk about, but you can't just talk about nothing. Smart people need to have something to talk about, Tove, and *that's* why Wood from Eden is the best blog.
I didn't feel sad about the past, but about the future. The past led to the present and the present is pretty awesome, so I don't find the past sad. But the picture of present civilization just disappearing felt so depressing that I reacted like "now, quickly, think of something else" when I read your post.
>>Unfortunately I didn't go to Scott's blog to meet people; I went there to read his posts.
I went there to meet people! But I came much later than you, towards the end of the SSC era. By then there were probably less interesting posts than earlier and more people than ever. Thank you for the compliment. If there is anything I have understood during the last one and a half year, it is that blogging is most of all about providing a place for people to meet. I can't say we seem to be a people magnet in terms of quantitaty. But the people who do find their way here are just that kind of people I like.
I read it...
I don't know what happened at ACX, but whatever it is, it happened very fast. It is the same with Less Wrong. When I discovered those sites a few years ago they were clearly interesting. All kinds of people who like to think were there. Then something happened very fast, maybe mostly during the last year or two.
I'm thinking of Scott's post about the cycles of subcultures https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/a-cyclic-theory-of-subcultures to explain what happened. Rationalists are too peaceful to infight. Instead, when enough people found the rationalist movement, a core group formed and that core group was able to nudge more peripheral people out with sheer boredom. I have now given up on ACX and only glance at it once in a while. I enjoyed the meet-ups a lot, but I fear they are developing along the same route.
> I read it...
Huh. What was wrong with it? It's still sitting there with my own Like on it - the proverbial dollar you put in the tip jar to make people feel like it's normal to put more in.
> Scott's post about the cycles of subcultures
Well, I think that was already after the rot. Reading it over, it looks extremely close to other ideas bandied about online. But rather than getting rid of the pathological focus on status that rationalists always obsess over, it got rid of the psychopaths and Narcissists, who seriously exist, and are seriously obsessed about status, and if Meika Loofs Samorzewski could *ever* make any sense, I'd be seriously interested to read what he thought about it.
The fire went out at SSC/ACX because Scott stopped feeding it. At least, that's the way it looked to me: the smarter people caught on first, and boiled off. Those who remain remind me of the fanbase of the Reimagined Battlestar Galactica by season 4, after Saul Tigh "was a Cylon" and Starbuck "came back from Earth." Or, if you don't care about me bashing Christians, they remind me of Christians now that evolution is a thing.
Hey by the way, you kept recommending I read some lady's work, but I never had time. I have time now! What was her name again? She had ideas about religion...
>>Huh. What was wrong with it?
It made me sad. Being human is so much about building things up, so the thought of it all being withered down wasn't pleasant at all.
>>The fire went out at SSC/ACX because Scott stopped feeding it
Ideally, smart people should be able to meet without anyone feeding them. But I guess that is more or less impossible.
>>Hey by the way, you kept recommending I read some lady's work, but I never had time. I have time now! What was her name again? She had ideas about religion...
It must have been Simone Weil.
Yes! Simone Weil.
> It made me sad. Being human is so much about building things up, so the thought of it all being withered down wasn't pleasant at all.
Wow. Your emotions are hard for me to read. When I think about the lost and distant past, I'm not sad. I experience a sense of eerieness and awe, blending into psychogenic chills. For me, "...and they were never heard from again" is an inspiring, satisfying end to a story.
> Ideally, smart people should be able to meet without anyone feeding them. But I guess that is more or less impossible.
Unfortunately I didn't go to Scott's blog to meet people; I went there to read his posts.
That's the odd thing about social behaviors - they're what really make us happy, in the deepest and most enduring way. But you can't get the rewards on purpose - you can't be social *just* to be social. There has to be some kind of other purpose there, like raising a barn, playing a video game, or burning a witch. Afterwards the survivors all feel great, and they all have plenty to talk about, but you can't just talk about nothing. Smart people need to have something to talk about, Tove, and *that's* why Wood from Eden is the best blog.
>>Wow. Your emotions are hard for me to read.
I didn't feel sad about the past, but about the future. The past led to the present and the present is pretty awesome, so I don't find the past sad. But the picture of present civilization just disappearing felt so depressing that I reacted like "now, quickly, think of something else" when I read your post.
>>Unfortunately I didn't go to Scott's blog to meet people; I went there to read his posts.
I went there to meet people! But I came much later than you, towards the end of the SSC era. By then there were probably less interesting posts than earlier and more people than ever. Thank you for the compliment. If there is anything I have understood during the last one and a half year, it is that blogging is most of all about providing a place for people to meet. I can't say we seem to be a people magnet in terms of quantitaty. But the people who do find their way here are just that kind of people I like.