This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
If I'm flattering myself probably 99.8, but in reality more like 99.5 or 99.4. (normalized to white western levels, compared to my own people I'm significantly higher).
One in 200 is probably how unique I think my intelligence really is. I'm quite conscientious and like learning about basically everything so I think I present as smarter than I really am because I can talk decently about a lot of things.
Back when I was a child I had delusions of being Great. Those were shattered very quickly when I began my maths degree at Oxbridge and got a chance to mingle with IMO hall of famers.
They were just at another level to me and despite initially foolishly thinking all I had to do was work harder and then I too could reach their level (note: I did not succeed, all that happened was I burnt out) eventually after getting smacked around enough by reality I learned to love my lot in life and go down a gear. I had a lot more fun too after I did this.
My dharma is not to achieve great things but at least I am at the point where I am capable of truly appreciating greatness when it is presented to me (unlike most humans) and I am thankful for that. It's much better to get into a state of resonance with the music of the universe ather than try and fight against it vainly. That way lies the path of Morgoth and we all know how that worked out...
I scored in the 99th percentile on verbal tests and somewhere around the 92-95th on spatial, so I’m not sure where that puts me overall, probably below you. Still, while I’ve met many much smarter people I find them generally easier to speak to and understand than people in the lower third of the population. Of course if the conversation turns to a niche special sub-field in theoretical physics or math or formal logic that I have never studied I’m not going to be able to follow, and my middling shape rotation ability means I’m not going to be able to hold my own with star traders at the poker table or when it comes to logic puzzles. But they don’t ever feel ‘foreign’ to me; I can understand the ideas even if I can’t derive them, if you want.
More options
Context Copy link
Well, you're doing better than Salieri, then.
Honestly I think Salieri gets unfairly maligned a lot. Modern scholarship (forget that movie, I'm talking academic scholarship) thinks there was no real beef between him and Mozart but the rumours, even during his life, led to him having a nervious breakdown and even now in the modern day the general public (to they extent they know of him) still boo him even though they wouldn't be able to distinguish a piece by Mozart vs one by him.
The dude tutored both Schubert and Beethoven, give him some respect!
I'm just riffing on the subject of the movie, which is very much about fictionalized Salieri's inability to cope with the fact that he was unable to "speak with the voice of god".
I'm aware the real Salieri's story does not neatly fit a morality play.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link