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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   5896 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 22, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Goodness. I know you're a regular, but this phrasing reads like stereotypical bait.

Anyway, I don't have a good answer for you. It strikes me as a topic with little debate: two groups of partisans, neither particularly on the fence. There's not really an avenue to a general audience, either, since the mere mention is so radioactive.

Goodness. I know you're a regular, but this phrasing reads like stereotypical bait.

Because it is.

Oh, the original draft was worse :P. I had a bit about looking for something that simultaneously doesn't shy away from uncomfortable facts but also wasn't overreaching the data. Experience online taught me that...that sort of phrasing leads some people to react badly.

I figured themotte could parse "good".

It strikes me as a topic with little debate

There paradoxically seems to be too much debate - i.e. people getting deep in the weeds in niche spaces in a way that is just daunting to enter for all sorts of reasons - but also not enough debate - i.e. enough that some authority has a good, clear overview I can quickly find on popular spaces that broadly covers the state of play without trying to recruit or manage me.

I figured themotte could parse "good".

If there is one word that I would never in a million years trust anyone in (or adjacent to) the rationalist community to parse, it would be "good"

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