In Paul Fussell’s book on class (I think), he says that people are really worried about differentiating themselves from the class immediately below them, but largely ignorant of the customs and sometimes even existence of the classes above them. When I found SSC, and then The Motte, and stuff like TLP, I was astonished to find a tier of the internet I had had no idea even existed. The quality of discourse here is . . . usually . . . of the kind that “high brow” (by internet standards) websites THINK they are having, but when you see the best stuff here you realize that those clowns are just flattering themselves. My question is, who is rightly saying the same thing about us? Of what intellectual internet class am I ignorant now? Or does onlineness impose some kind of ceiling on things, and the real galaxy brains are at the equivalent of Davos somewhere?
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Notes -
Where are they?
Obscure internet forums / platforms are by definition obscure. To hear about them here, one needs to be lucky: (1) someone who knows about such a place comes here and (2) wants to share a link here. Rationalist sphere was quite special in their mission to evangelize rationalism and reach out on the internet; not every discussion group has such objective. (I'd imagine such groups should be careful where they recruit.)
Agreed with this and this: the elites have offline and not-public platforms.
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