[ / / / / / / / / / / / / / ] [ dir / asmr / cafechan / kc / leftpol / soyboys / turul / vg / zenpol ]

/ratanon/ - Rationalists Anonymous

Remember when /ratanon/ was good?
Name
Email
Subject
Comment *
File
* = required field[▶ Show post options & limits]
Confused? See the FAQ.
Embed
(replaces files and can be used instead)
Oekaki
Show oekaki applet
(replaces files and can be used instead)
Options
Password (For file and post deletion.)

Allowed file types:jpg, jpeg, gif, png, webm, mp4, pdf, pdf
Max filesize is 16 MB.
Max image dimensions are 15000 x 15000.
You may upload 5 per post.


File: 283abf304896b71⋯.jpg (490.12 KB, 1024x1493, 1024:1493, hpmor_cover_art_concept_by.jpg)

 No.7804

Who is the most powerful rationalist in the world?

 No.7805

Thiel?


 No.7806

Herman Cain. No question.


 No.7807

>>7805

Peter Thiel is probably the right answer, at least if OP meant rationalist in the LessWrong sense.


 No.7808


 No.7809

>>7808

Wow, he's about the last person I would expect to be a LessWronger.


 No.7810

>>7809

There's a weird grouping of Mormon Transhumanists. Wouldn't be surprised if Glenn Beck had some level of involvement in it. Here you go. http://transfigurism.org/


 No.7811

I think Bill Gates is also aware of MIRI/LW.


 No.7812

There are two possible meanings of "powerful rationalist" here; "rationalist who has the most power" and "person who has the most of the kind of power that 'rationality' is meant to be".

I think the latter is more interesting; the first boils down to "find the most powerful person by conventional metrics who fits into the 'rationalist/rationalist-adjacent' cluster", any debate would be about how to define the borders of the cluster, which conventional measures of power are more important for "powerful", blah blah pointless semantics.

Lesswrong, at least in the early days, was about developing rationality as a superpower. We're long since disillusioned about how much of an advantage it can really be, but it probably at least does something interesting at the higher levels so… who has the highest mastery of our art, in the world? Has it done them any good?

The naive guess for "who" would be Eliezer himself, I mean he wrote the sequences. I think most people here would think it very dubious that he's the Most Rational Human, unless this turned into an Eliezer Yudkowsky Facts thread, but no-one in particular comes to mind when I try to think of who they'd put forth as a better example.


 No.7813

>>7812

Scott Alexander is the rightful caliph.


 No.7814

>>7813

But does the mandate of heaven fall to whoever is most rational? It'd be nice is the master of the art was also the leader of its practitioners, but I don't think our cult is organised that way.


 No.7815

>>7812

>person who has the most of the kind of power that 'rationality' is meant to be

Are you referring to epistemic rationality (having accurate beliefs), instrumental rationality (achieving goals), or a combination?


 No.7816

File: 101d50388715927⋯.webm (963.74 KB, 32x36, 8:9, gwern.webm)

Oh, wait, guys, it's totally Gwern. Testimonial from Scott:

>A typical (okay, I lied, highly extreme) example is Gwern, who consumed pretty much every chemical and then carefully recorded its effects on his sleep, emotions, performance on cognitive tests, et cetera and then performed Bayesian analysis on it. There’s obviously /something/ wrong with that, but it’s not lack of empiricism!

https://www.gwern.net/Nootropics


 No.7817

>>7813

correct answer


 No.7818

They probably don't identify as a rationalist, they're too busy being powerful.


 No.7819

>>7815

A combination, although I think The Way is more specific. One might point to someone who has a lot of accurate beliefs and has achieved every goal they've set their minds to, who has great luck and merely average or good skill in the Art. That's basically the type of person I'd expect to see from "rationalist who has the most power".


 No.7820

File: e740200681d6258⋯.png (12.58 KB, 588x198, 98:33, gwern gcta.png)

>>7816

Remember that time Gwern single-handedly wrote a Wikipedia page?


 No.7821

>>7816

>Despite its excellent safety profile, it is currently a Schedule IV controlled substance in the United States. Doesn't this mean that I must be wrong about its excellent safety profile? No. See for example Gwern's research on the subject. About half the people reading this paragraph are going to say "Wait, don't the FDA and the entire decision-making apparatus of the United States government have more data and credibility than one guy with a website?" The other half of the people know Gwern.

http://squid314.livejournal.com/331948.html


 No.7822

>>7805

Well if he wasn't before he sure as fuck is now.


 No.7823

>>7804

Me.

This is a joke, but be sure to check back in ten years.


 No.7824

Scott Alexander is the rightful caliph.




[Return][Go to top][Catalog][Nerve Center][Cancer][Post a Reply]
Delete Post [ ]
[]
[ / / / / / / / / / / / / / ] [ dir / asmr / cafechan / kc / leftpol / soyboys / turul / vg / zenpol ]