I wasn’t criticizing stoicism or effective altruism because I’m not informed enough on them. I wasn’t criticizing rationalism because I’m in favor of it. But I’m willing to bet if society has managed to fuck up stoicism and altruism, we’ve probably done the same with rationalism too.
I wasn’t addressing which ideas or positions he was taking because I can’t see inside his head. I have no idea how he thinks, or which paths he has taken. I don’t know how he will change in the future. That would be presumptuous.
I do like that he is curious. That’s a good quality in a person. Not everyone is.
I… have to ask: are you actually aware of what the hell the context is of the things that you’re commenting about?
I literally just said that this is the first time I’ve heard of effective altruism. I read what others said about it here, and it doesn’t sound good. I have generally favored what little I’ve read about stoicism, but apparently it’s become problematic too. I know better than to talk about ideas that I’m unfamiliar with. Is it a problem that I refuse to assert any kind of intellectual authority where I have none?
So what I said was I appreciate the fact that he is curious. I remember when I was his age. I believed in some batshit crazy things. I was a devout fundamentalist christian, a young earth creationist, an incel before they used the word. You know how I broke free of all that? Insatiable curiosity. I filled my head with other people’s ideas. Cognitive dissonance forced me to abandon bad ideas and I clung to good ideas until I was able to form a solid foundation for how to face reality. Rationality was critical to that process.
I’m not prepared to criticize the ideas and positions he was curious about. But I do praise a curious mind. Young people are still forming their positions. Part of that process is investigating ideas, accepting the good and rejecting the bad. I don’t know how he will turn out. But curiosity is a good quality.
okay a lot of that is good and all, but here’s the flipside: a lot of these fuckwits outright prey on naïve curiousity. it is one of their biggest feeders for taking in people who don’t yet know any better
and that’s kinda the point. broadly I agree with you, but curiousity is/can be a dangerous thing
(also the reason I asked was the framing of one of your statements, so: Rationalism, big-R specifically. congratulations on learning about some of the worst people around)
