A week ago I attended LessOnline, a rationalist blogging conference featuring many people I’ve known for years—Scott Alexander, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Zvi Mowshowitz, Sarah Constantin, Carl…
Re bonus findings: anybody who uses an argument like ‘a man faces genetic oblivion’ like that is way further right than they think they are. That he wrote this before the rise of the whole manosphere stuff (who also had a weird obsession with this, prob why they aligned with the stormfront people so easily (who worry about genetic oblivion of people with their skin color (while excluding Jewish people)) should be extra concerning. I hope it was just a youthful folly, and not something expressed near his kids(*). (While I point to the manosphere shits, there is also a big fantasy/sf element(**), where this is made seemingly important, which makes lonely nerds way more at risk of all of this, see Mickey Rourkes weird shit in the movie immortals (or better, do not it sucks, here is a link to a description of the scene, but be warned)).
*: and to be clear I see no reason why he has this was written years before he met his wife, which he seems to be in a loving, understanding and happy relationship with. See my musings about manosphere/nerd shit more as a jumping off point to talk about it than an accusation. (Think the ‘not as left as you think you are’ thing holds however).
**: That in Crusader Kings 3 for example, a kid being revealed as having a different father does not disinherit them (it just gives them a ‘disputed heritage’ trait) seems to trip a lot of people up. The player can disinherit them, but that comes at a renown cost (but you can do that for almost all children).
Also I love that the conversation almost certainly started with a comment about how everyone assumes they’d be the in the king’s court the cast majority of people would have been some variant of peasant farmer for the vast majority of history. But somehow he still would have totally been the Chief Rabbi, given the most beautiful woman, and generally be a king. I wasn’t there obviously but either he missed the point or they all missed the point. Even when talking specifically about how you can’t choose the circumstances of your birth or their consequences he still can’t imagine himself not being the king.
““I would’ve been the chief rabbi of my shtetl,” I said. “All day long, I’d debate questions like how much restitution you’d have to pay if your ox gored your neighbor’s sheep. And for this, I’d get an arranged marriage with the most beautiful girl in town.””
this is low hanging fruit but: yeah absolutely rancid takes on the middle east from scootson. who would have thought he would produce such nuance-free, fascist opinions about geopolitics?
This appears to be the explainer: https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=476 , also referenced here: https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=5769
Edit: bonus cursed findings: https://web.archive.org/web/20071006184928/http://scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=260
Re bonus findings: anybody who uses an argument like ‘a man faces genetic oblivion’ like that is way further right than they think they are. That he wrote this before the rise of the whole manosphere stuff (who also had a weird obsession with this, prob why they aligned with the stormfront people so easily (who worry about genetic oblivion of people with their skin color (while excluding Jewish people)) should be extra concerning. I hope it was just a youthful folly, and not something expressed near his kids(*). (While I point to the manosphere shits, there is also a big fantasy/sf element(**), where this is made seemingly important, which makes lonely nerds way more at risk of all of this, see Mickey Rourkes weird shit in the movie immortals (or better, do not it sucks, here is a link to a description of the scene, but be warned)).
*: and to be clear I see no reason why he has this was written years before he met his wife, which he seems to be in a loving, understanding and happy relationship with. See my musings about manosphere/nerd shit more as a jumping off point to talk about it than an accusation. (Think the ‘not as left as you think you are’ thing holds however).
**: That in Crusader Kings 3 for example, a kid being revealed as having a different father does not disinherit them (it just gives them a ‘disputed heritage’ trait) seems to trip a lot of people up. The player can disinherit them, but that comes at a renown cost (but you can do that for almost all children).
Well found.
Also I love that the conversation almost certainly started with a comment about how everyone assumes they’d be the in the king’s court the cast majority of people would have been some variant of peasant farmer for the vast majority of history. But somehow he still would have totally been the Chief Rabbi, given the most beautiful woman, and generally be a king. I wasn’t there obviously but either he missed the point or they all missed the point. Even when talking specifically about how you can’t choose the circumstances of your birth or their consequences he still can’t imagine himself not being the king.
Ah right yes, thanks.
this is low hanging fruit but: yeah absolutely rancid takes on the middle east from scootson. who would have thought he would produce such nuance-free, fascist opinions about geopolitics?