If you'd like to meet other LWers in real life, there's a meetup thread and a Facebook group. If you've your own blog or other online presence, please feel free to link it. If you're confused about any of the terms used on this site, you might want to pay a visit to the LW Wiki, or simply ask a question in this thread. Some of us have been having this conversation for a few years now, and we've developed a fairly specialized way of talking about some things. Don't worry -- you'll pick it up pretty quickly.
You may have noticed that all the posts and all the comments on this site have buttons to vote them up or down, and all the users have "karma" scores which come from the sum of all their comments and posts. Try not to take this too personally. Voting is used mainly to get the most useful comments up to the top of the page where people can see them. It may be difficult to contribute substantially to ongoing conversations when you've just gotten here, and you may even see some of your comments get voted down. Don't be discouraged by this; it happened to many of us. If you've any questions about karma or voting, please feel free to ask here.
If you've come to Less Wrong to teach us about a particular topic, this thread would be a great place to start the conversation, especially until you've worked up enough karma for a top level post. By posting here, and checking the responses, you'll probably get a good read on what, if anything, has already been said here on that topic, what's widely understood and what you might still need to take some time explaining.
A note for theists: you will find LW overtly atheist. We are happy to have you participating but please be aware that other commenters are likely to treat religion as an open-and-shut case. This isn't groupthink; we really, truly have given full consideration to theistic claims and found them to be false. If you'd like to know how we came to this conclusion you may find these related posts a good starting point.
A couple technical notes: when leaving comments, you may notice a 'help' link below and to the right of the text box. This will explain how to italicize, linkify, or quote bits of text. You'll also want to check your inbox, where you can always see whether people have left responses to your comments.
Welcome to Less Wrong, and we look forward to hearing from you throughout the site.
(Note from MBlume: though my name is at the top of this page, the wording in various parts of the welcome message owes a debt to other LWers who've helped me considerably in working the kinks out)
Hi. This is my first time to this website, and my third comment today. I've been listening to the show "Bayesian Conspiracy" and made some posts to the subreddit. So I guess I'm not a good lurker.
I was intrigued by Arandur's article entitled "The Goal of the Bayesian Conspiracy" which was essentially,
(1) eliminate most pain and suffering and inequity.
(2) develop technologies for eternal life.
The ordering here, that Arandur suggested, I thought, was quite wise. I recently saw the series "Dollhouse" and I felt like it gave a pretty good description of what would probably happen if you reversed the order.
And then I went on to read the article on "The Failures of Eld Science"... Well, skim.... Like I said, I'm not a good lurker. And then I read "Rationality as a Martial Art" which was short so I read the whole thing.
I guess I have very entrenched views on the failures of Eld science, and Rationality as a martial art, because, I've been arguing about Special and General Relativity online for about two decades, and occasionally debating biblical interpretation with Christians for most of my life.
Hide in plain sight
Before you can step forward you have to be where you are.
Don't be ashamed of your ignorance, but don't cling to it either.
Desire the things you have, commit to what you love.
Don't look for false things. Don't seek out error to make yourself look smart. Don't confuse counterattack with defense.
Stand up for what you believe in--especially when you realize you look foolish, and still believe it.
When pulled in different directions, stick with your commitments.
Get good at what you have to do. It will be more fun and people will appreciate you more.
Be clear with your meaning.
Try to understand others from their own perspectives, and with their own meanings.
Acknowledge the hypothesis. Don't confuse what you believe to be a false belief with a moral failure.
Be the heart before you be the head. Agreeing to disagree is the start of a conversation... not the end.
I have two MS degrees, one in physics, and one in math... I got them in the wrong order... as knowing how to do a differential equation would have been REALLY helpful, in physics. But I'm really good at trig, both regular and hyperbolic.
If you've recently joined the Less Wrong community, please leave a comment here and introduce yourself. We'd love to know who you are, what you're doing, or how you found us. Tell us how you came to identify as a rationalist, or describe what it is you value and work to achieve.
If you'd like to meet other LWers in real life, there's a meetup thread and a Facebook group. If you've your own blog or other online presence, please feel free to link it. If you're confused about any of the terms used on this site, you might want to pay a visit to the LW Wiki, or simply ask a question in this thread. Some of us have been having this conversation for a few years now, and we've developed a fairly specialized way of talking about some things. Don't worry -- you'll pick it up pretty quickly.
You may have noticed that all the posts and all the comments on this site have buttons to vote them up or down, and all the users have "karma" scores which come from the sum of all their comments and posts. Try not to take this too personally. Voting is used mainly to get the most useful comments up to the top of the page where people can see them. It may be difficult to contribute substantially to ongoing conversations when you've just gotten here, and you may even see some of your comments get voted down. Don't be discouraged by this; it happened to many of us. If you've any questions about karma or voting, please feel free to ask here.
If you've come to Less Wrong to teach us about a particular topic, this thread would be a great place to start the conversation, especially until you've worked up enough karma for a top level post. By posting here, and checking the responses, you'll probably get a good read on what, if anything, has already been said here on that topic, what's widely understood and what you might still need to take some time explaining.
A note for theists: you will find LW overtly atheist. We are happy to have you participating but please be aware that other commenters are likely to treat religion as an open-and-shut case. This isn't groupthink; we really, truly have given full consideration to theistic claims and found them to be false. If you'd like to know how we came to this conclusion you may find these related posts a good starting point.
A couple technical notes: when leaving comments, you may notice a 'help' link below and to the right of the text box. This will explain how to italicize, linkify, or quote bits of text. You'll also want to check your inbox, where you can always see whether people have left responses to your comments.
Welcome to Less Wrong, and we look forward to hearing from you throughout the site.
(Note from MBlume: though my name is at the top of this page, the wording in various parts of the welcome message owes a debt to other LWers who've helped me considerably in working the kinks out)