Not much disagreement (and a huge fan of Scott himself), I'm more so thinking they could do so much more with the raw cognitive horsepower in the community. They'd be better without their ideology and methods imho.
I think the most important community outreach that anyone can be doing these days is encouraging people to think critically and take agency over there lives.
With that in mind, I think they are building an important foundation. This enables people to make up their own minds.
I have to admit that dialogue with rationalist or rationalist forums help me greatly and coming up with my own ideas, despite them being contrary to theirs. Simply Having forums to talk and think deeply is a rare and valuable service
Well, it is deployed regularly by people with a broad spectrum of "capabilities"...so what could it mean? Would the meaning (as it is used, and perceived) not also be a broad spectrum, that perhaps does not nicely intersect with a rigorous and comprehensive definition (that itself doesn't rely on numerous other complex compound terms, each of which suffers from the same problem, and others), which to my knowledge doesn't exist?
In simple terms, I just think it is just making effort to present the most robust and accurate case you can.
This involves questioning your work/thoughts before presenting/embracing them.
It involves being able put yourself in a skeptical position to it, and generate your own constructive feedback.
In some ways, it reminds me of the HN guidelines "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."
