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User ID: 3129

campfire


				
				
				

				
0 followers   follows 0 users   joined 2024 July 07 15:37:09 UTC

					

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User ID: 3129

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What is the Dreaded Jim’s blog? Google doesn’t help much, got a link?

Definitely, I’ve commented on it before but it has a rare combination of people who are smart, intellectually curious, intellectually honest, and have a high openness to experience. And it’s largely this way thanks to the Bay Area Rationalist writers cultivating an audience with these qualities. If you advertised your forum as being a place for smart, curious, open-minded people, it wouldn’t attract nearly the same caliber of users.

I’ll second @bolido_sentimental ‘s idea that it should be used for more general purpose discussion. It’s sort of arbitrary that the Culture War Thread is the site’s main weekly thread. Even if it did start as a more CW-oriented version of the SlateStarCodex subreddit, the userbases have noticeably diverged and many people here are well-informed on topics outside the CW, and most of the broader CW discussions have been had. I think the Maker’s Monday is a great start, enjoyed reading about the projects people have been working on.

matchmaking

What, like setting people up on dates? Is this a common use case for Discord?

Say you and I are the only two people on Earth.

Level 1: I know the sun rises in the East. You know the sun rises in the East. However, you might erroneously think I believe the sun rises in the West.

Level 2: I know the sun rises in the East. You know the sun rises in the East. I know you know the sun rises in the East. You know I know the sun rises in the East. However, you might erroneously think I believe you think the sun rises in the West.

I personally would consider it common knowledge at this point. But I can imagine a situation where, for example, you tell me to watch for the sunrise, and you have to clarify that you mean the East, because you think my understanding of you is that you believe the sun rises in the West. This wouldn’t happen at Level 3.

Level 3: I know the sun rises in the East. You know the sun rises in the East. I know you know the sun rises in the East. You know I know the sun rises in the East. I know you know that I know the sun rises in the East. You know that I know that you know the sun rises in the East.

How much useful/well-curated information is on Discord servers that isn’t available or as accessible on websites and social media?

What has your experience been with SSC/ACX or SSC-adjacent communities in your area? What are your thoughts on the future of the scene at large, online and offline?

Went to a local informal ACX meetup recently and was pleasantly surprised by the group. The members were all interesting in their own way: most had niche intellectual interests they could discuss at length (including ones they had written about on their substacks or elsewhere online), some had studied at elite universities, others had met many in the greater Lesswrong-Bay Area rationalist scene. At 25 I was one of the younger members, but not the youngest, and everyone was <31 (in this meetup at least). This got me wondering about the state of the rat/rat-adjacent community (side note: is there any sort of official name for this space? I think most of us are familiar with the scene I'm describing here but I'm not sure what to label it) at large. Do meetups happen regularly in your area? What's the turnout like, and are you regularly seeing newer/younger members joining? Has anything interesting come of them: like a business/organization started or the groups achieving any sort of collective goals?

I've always found it interesting how this space manages to naturally attract smart, open-minded, and intellectually curious people. And it does so because (I think) reading LessWrong/SSC selects for these qualities in a way that an open forum that sells itself on fostering them probably wouldn't, such a place would probably just revert to the median subreddit-level discourse. I've seen comments suggesting it's on the decline. For example: that this site's weekly threads get less activity than the subreddit's did at its peak. I guess this site in particular will struggle in the long-term to find new posters to replace the ones that leave or just post less frequently without Reddit to promote it. At the same time, I wouldn't, for the reasons I described, want to just advertise it to the masses. But the SSC subreddit doesn't seem as active as it once was either.

Related question: are there any new/younger writers in the space? Scott recommends Ricki Heicklen who graduated from undergrad in 2019 but she hasn't posted in a while.