Comment by lyu07282
5 days ago
> I haven't seen any comment yet that isn't already addressed in much more colour and nuance in the article itself.
I once called rationalists infantile, impotent liberal escapism, perhaps that's the novel take you are looking for.
Essentially my view is that the fundamental problem with rationalists and the effective altruist movement is that they are talking about profound social and political issues, with any and all politics completely and totally removed from it. It is liberal depoliticisation[1] driven to its ultimate conclusion. That's just why they are ineffective and wrong about everything, but that's also why they are popular among the tech elites that are giving millions to associated groups like MIRI[2]. They aren't going away, they are politically useful and convenient to very powerful people.
I just so happened to read in the last few days the (somewhat disjointed and rambling) Technically Radical: On the Unrecognized [Leftist] Potential of Tech Workers and Hackers
https://wedontagree.net/technically-radical-on-the-unrecogni...
as well as the better but much older "The professional-managerial class" Ehrenreich (1976) :
https://libcom.org/article/professional-managerial-class-bar...
"Rationalists" do seem to be in some ways the poster children of consumerist atomization, but do note that they also resisted it socially by forming those 'cults' of theirs.
(If counter-cultures are 'dead', why don't they count as one ?? Alternatively, might this be a form of communitarianism, but with less traditionalism, more atheism, and perhaps a Jewish slant ?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Saved_Lisa%27s_Brain