Last night I tried to describe the rationalist community to a friend who had never heard of it. I struggled, but finally settled on describing it as "A school of philosophy that arose on the internet rather than in the academy."
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How would you describe the rationalist community (to fresh ears)? And (while I have your attention) what are some other examples of fields born on the internet?
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In general, I love the idea of para-academic communities - the notion that serious research communities can now arise completely in parallel to standard academia. But there's not a lot of examples I know of - most are connected to LW in some way.
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"para-academic communities" <— well put, this is what i'm wondering about
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Some pointers to examples:https://twitter.com/michael_nielsen/status/613452672939634688 …
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I think this is incredibly important (as the university system is collapsing) and inspiring. I’d like to contribute, to the extent I can!
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My vague sense is that para-academic fields suffer from being under-networked. A little too much of the non-joiner, "I'm going my own way" mentality. Not enough people building off each others' work.
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What else would these communities need do you think?
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Academia has the advantage of structured institutional networked space. It filters out annoying time-sink intrusions: “sorry, I have a job to do, I can’t deal with X”. In para-academic communities, livelihood necessities are often intrusions: “sorry, can’t respond now bc job.” >
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The crypto community (arguably very much not the same as LW, though many, eg. me, are big fans of both) is another big example.
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