A college roommate of mine had a joke: “what’s the difference between Ayn Rand and the tooth fairy? No one believes in the tooth fairy when they grow up.” I feel like it could be updated for Yudkowsky easily enough. I don’t want to waste my time reading all this; as a mid-40s parent living on the East coast, I feel like the appropriate response to any discussion of rationalism is “grow up.”
I understand your sentiment, but would strongly disagree. Even if you really think that rationalism offers its followers nothing of value, it's still enlightening to try to understand what it is about the human psyche that draws people towards it, and how one might go about offering a better version of that.
Why would that effort be enlightening? Many many more people are part of Falun Gong; shouldn’t I prioritize learning more about Falun Gong and what it is about the human psyche that draws people towards it? And why do I need to offer such people a better version?
Given the choice between reading a good book or Harry Potter fanfic from a guy who’s scared of floating point numbers, shouldn’t I read the good book?
