I’m curious[1] if people observe any differences of opinion that seem to come up a bit too often to be random. I think I’ve noticed at least three—my impression is that, compared to EAs, rationalists on the whole:
Care less about the welfare of nonhumans
Have more faith in unvarnished honesty as a mechanism for collective truth-seeking
Are more open-minded about weird or controversial ideas
I’d love to hear if anyone disagrees or has other observations.[2]
I expect if I’d had a better sense of these kind of differences earlier on, it would have significantly affected my confidence in certain beliefs, the way I defer and the degree to which I engaged with each community.
[Question] How do Rationalists’ and EAs’ beliefs differ?
I’m curious[1] if people observe any differences of opinion that seem to come up a bit too often to be random. I think I’ve noticed at least three—my impression is that, compared to EAs, rationalists on the whole:
Care less about the welfare of nonhumans
Have more faith in unvarnished honesty as a mechanism for collective truth-seeking
Are more open-minded about weird or controversial ideas
I’d love to hear if anyone disagrees or has other observations.[2]
I expect if I’d had a better sense of these kind of differences earlier on, it would have significantly affected my confidence in certain beliefs, the way I defer and the degree to which I engaged with each community.
Be nice! I’d like this to be about noticing differences, not judging them.