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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That quality you are referring to is the propensity of interest in things vs people axis. A lot of people seek out online spaces for community and socializing, the objective of the place is secondary to them. Of course those people are more interested in Aella than Aellas ideas. When people who are there for the objective see the former, its a disconcerting experience. Tldr; Normies gtfo.
I seem to recall that history's greatest minds in science, math, and philosophy generally were friends with each other, rather than having 'work only' relationships. There's a reason businesses and the military are so intent on team building and getting their people to share pleasures: it likely increases comfort and enjoyment of working together. It would seem to me that the best way would be to combine the socializing and the work groups, and enjoy pleasures together after completing hard parts of the objective together. This creates a barrier of the work to those who only want to share pleasures, but increases motivation and increases confidence in each other in the workgroup.
It sounds like this problem was inevitable since slatestarcodex comments are made for personal ego reasons, and not to build an actual work or project. That being the case, some Lady going 'ooooh how interesting' is going to make the experience even better for nerds wanting an ego boost. Solution: write a psych paper or book together and gangbang aella after you finish each chapter. Tldr;get into normies : D
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