some of the rationalists i'm around view our society as profoundly, infuriatingly dysfunctional, made more tragic when many of the solutions are easy, low-hanging fruit. There's a sense of deep rage from seeing the clearly saner way the world could be. but- 1/
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i think i have this with general conversational/social norms. it feels like the way we talk with each other and treat other people is profoundly, infuriatingly dysfunctional, and if we just took some of the low-hanging solutions, things would be so much saner. 2/
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like, really basic stuff that everybody should agree makes sense. Like, "don't try to shame a behavior by pointing out an unrelated behavior" or "be really careful about making claims about other people's motivations unless you have super strong evidence"
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or "don't insult people". Like, just... don't? In a sane world (or as the rats would say, "on my home planet", people just... don't insult each other, almost ever. I feels like I'm on an alien planet where everyone just agrees that insults are a valid form of debate.
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they feel rage bc they do not deeply understand the underlying motivations for others’ behavior.
want others to prioritize how they do. but all prioritize based on own values + perception.
angry others don’t understand, yet their own anger stems from not understanding others.
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The real value lies on a personal level. For each raging rationalist, to explore why they “need” others to change. And not fake layer reason like “would make a better world.” The reason is always personal. And the value is in identifying the core personal fear.
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I find that fighting against the gradient of practical reality is just ineffective. Solutions come from taking advantage of it
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Purposely insulting to hurt someone, I get that. But it seems that people are insulted by anything they don’t like, more now than ever.
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They need to embrace the messy, frayed edge of forward human progress.
As ugly as it is beautiful.
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The basic idea of free will is the culprit for this, conventional understanding of free will implies people have direct control of their actions. In reality genetics and the environment plays a huge role, one can say luck. We also assume we are living in a shared reality.
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