Comment by Chamix

3 months ago

Ha, haha, across hundreds of personal discussions I've been involved with on lesswrong/lighthaven, twitter, Wikipedia talk/editing, SF parties etc I think his most distinguishing feature has always been his abiding and unabashed love for possessing extreme competency whenever satisfying cunningham-esque laws. Though the post-dwarkesh clout certainly tainted things a bit.

> his abiding and unabashed love for possessing extreme competency whenever satisfying cunningham-esque laws. Though the post-dwarkesh clout certainly tainted things a bit.

I can't make any sense of that.

  • You can tell someone in native on LessWrong by their ability to use incredibly obtuse language to say simple things. It's just in-crowd signalling.

    > cunningham-esque laws

    Cunningham's Law states "the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."

    > post-dwarkesh clout

    He went on the Dwarkesh podcast. That's maximal in-crowd for some AI-pilled people.

    • > You can tell someone in native on LessWrong by their ability to use incredibly obtuse language to say simple things. It's just in-crowd signalling.

      Do you have a sense of what shapes this? There are so many people in that orbit whose writing I find both exhausting and suspect. I work hard to write clearly, which forces me to think a bit more clearly. The in-group thing makes sense, but there's an element of obliqueness or roundaboutness that makes me think of how a squid deploys ink.

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