I think almost all views start off memetic to some extent, and it’s not until you actively seek out to contradict the view that the view becomes authentic to yourself.
also there’s nothing wrong with having boring standard views, more important to make sure that most of your beliefs are weakly held so you remain open to changing your mind.
also there’s nothing wrong with having boring standard views » sure, it's not about whether they're boring / standard, it's about whether you actually believe your own views or not
as an example, a lot of young people are socially liberal and not economically literate, but due to memetic pressure they end up adopting economically liberal views as well despite not having thought super hard about them
it’s not until you actively seek out to contradict the view that the view becomes authentic to yourself » i agree!
I will say that for most economic policy positions, I don't think you necessarily have to think super hard to recognize the validity of economically liberal positions. At this point, I think most people realize the American healthcare system is the worst among developed nations, the minimum wage hasn't gone up in over a decade, and tax rates among the wealthy are at near historic lows through decades of tax cuts and loopholes.
There are exceptions to this - government deficits are an issue, especially when the economy is good - but by and large the standard liberal economic positions (adopting universal healthcare, increasing labor unionization, enforcing antitrust law, raising taxes on the wealthy) are standard for a reason.
I would actually argue that memetic pressure plays more of a role on social issues. For example, young college graduates are more likely to believe all trans people should be always able to participate in sports of the gender they identify with, probably because they don't want to be perceived as transphobic, when in reality the issue is more complex and nuanced than that. Same goes for other issues like the Gaza war, or police brutality. People are more likely to make moral judgments on your character based on these views, so I think there's more societal pressure to adopt the "correct view". And I say this as someone who largely leans left on most social / economic issues, but thinks that a lot of recent progressive demands have been misguided (defunding the police, removing standardized testing requirements).
who do you think characterizes "a monkey that likes other monkeys"? i remember it might have been a blog post of yours that said something to the effect of this being a good descriptor of bill clinton. anyway, i think your answer's not a cop-out, and being interested by people is the root of all the humanities and the social sciences. i don't find it totally fair to characterize this underlying drive as a cop-out vs having an underlying drive to build or explore.
regarding beliefs about ai research, there are some lines of research in my field which I a priori wouldn't have considered very promising, but which ended up being quite impactful after enough a few key institutions and smart people decided to take them on. in your case, i think it would not be unreasonable for whichever scenario you commit to believing to align more closely with the future. if you believe in the wall scenario and become an academic, it is quite possible for whatever you find to be important enough to make the current state indeed look like a wall in hindsight. and vice versa.
cute post :) and I also really loved the van gogh museum! mostly because it made me really depressed, and I think it might be the only art museum that's had that magnitude of emotional impact on me
looking for bananas » oh god, franklyn tn was talking about this and how this meant that quant and ai are the best sources of human achievement or something
i think fundamentally i am just a very boring person » huh?? you're mysterious and that alone is deeply interesting to me
I think almost all views start off memetic to some extent, and it’s not until you actively seek out to contradict the view that the view becomes authentic to yourself.
also there’s nothing wrong with having boring standard views, more important to make sure that most of your beliefs are weakly held so you remain open to changing your mind.
also there’s nothing wrong with having boring standard views » sure, it's not about whether they're boring / standard, it's about whether you actually believe your own views or not
as an example, a lot of young people are socially liberal and not economically literate, but due to memetic pressure they end up adopting economically liberal views as well despite not having thought super hard about them
it’s not until you actively seek out to contradict the view that the view becomes authentic to yourself » i agree!
I will say that for most economic policy positions, I don't think you necessarily have to think super hard to recognize the validity of economically liberal positions. At this point, I think most people realize the American healthcare system is the worst among developed nations, the minimum wage hasn't gone up in over a decade, and tax rates among the wealthy are at near historic lows through decades of tax cuts and loopholes.
There are exceptions to this - government deficits are an issue, especially when the economy is good - but by and large the standard liberal economic positions (adopting universal healthcare, increasing labor unionization, enforcing antitrust law, raising taxes on the wealthy) are standard for a reason.
I would actually argue that memetic pressure plays more of a role on social issues. For example, young college graduates are more likely to believe all trans people should be always able to participate in sports of the gender they identify with, probably because they don't want to be perceived as transphobic, when in reality the issue is more complex and nuanced than that. Same goes for other issues like the Gaza war, or police brutality. People are more likely to make moral judgments on your character based on these views, so I think there's more societal pressure to adopt the "correct view". And I say this as someone who largely leans left on most social / economic issues, but thinks that a lot of recent progressive demands have been misguided (defunding the police, removing standardized testing requirements).
who do you think characterizes "a monkey that likes other monkeys"? i remember it might have been a blog post of yours that said something to the effect of this being a good descriptor of bill clinton. anyway, i think your answer's not a cop-out, and being interested by people is the root of all the humanities and the social sciences. i don't find it totally fair to characterize this underlying drive as a cop-out vs having an underlying drive to build or explore.
regarding beliefs about ai research, there are some lines of research in my field which I a priori wouldn't have considered very promising, but which ended up being quite impactful after enough a few key institutions and smart people decided to take them on. in your case, i think it would not be unreasonable for whichever scenario you commit to believing to align more closely with the future. if you believe in the wall scenario and become an academic, it is quite possible for whatever you find to be important enough to make the current state indeed look like a wall in hindsight. and vice versa.
cute post :) and I also really loved the van gogh museum! mostly because it made me really depressed, and I think it might be the only art museum that's had that magnitude of emotional impact on me
looking for bananas » oh god, franklyn tn was talking about this and how this meant that quant and ai are the best sources of human achievement or something
i think fundamentally i am just a very boring person » huh?? you're mysterious and that alone is deeply interesting to me
quant and ai are the best sources of human achievement » um What
mysterious » wait i feel like being mysterious is a skill issue though