If you’re training to become a rationalist honorable
mental ninja-warrior, you’re going to need to get some practice in
holding contradictory positions. It’s important to get started early! As
soon as you’ve learned these facts, you knew them ‘prior’ to any
argument you may find yourself in, which makes them inarguable - no good
rationalist would ever reach a conclusion that needs to be modified.
Let’s take a quick tour!
- Dating is a competitive marketplace where all parties are ruthlessly
optimizing for status and genetic fitness. Also, I’m just a nice guy
looking for a relationship built on love and mutual respect.
- Evolutionary theory is the right way to understand all social
behaviors, we’re all just apes competing to pass down our genes, and
only the most genetically fit survive - trying to understand social
behavior through the lens of “morals” is doomed to fail. Also, it’s a
tragedy that incels have been left behind by third-wave femiglobalism,
therefore sex vouchers.
- The free market is the only efficient way to distribute goods,
pursue technological innovation, etc. Also, close the borders and
ethnonationalism, but we don’t call it that.
- Immigration from Muslim countries is an existential threat to
Western culture, because some ideologies are simply antithetical to
liberalism and their adherents can’t be allowed to subvert our kindness
toward their own ends. Also, the refusal to endlessly debate fascists
(who don’t actually exist) reveals the bankruptcy of progressive
ideology.
- The biggest threat to humanity is that we’d turn over control of our
planet to an uncaring entity that maximized for something other than
human flourishing. Also, suggesting any system other than capitalism is
ludicrous, unless you’re a monarchist I think?
- It’s of supreme importance that you argue against the best version
of an opponent’s arguments, both to better understand their position and
to strengthen your own. Also, look at what this blue-check said on
Twitter, no I don’t have time to read that book.
- Politics is the mind-killer and the culture war is a distraction -
ours is a nobler-minded community concerned with elevating the human
condition. Also, the culture war thread on my subreddit has more
comments than the first 50 submitted topics combined.
Share your own!
Scientific racism edition:
The average IQ of a country is the main determining factor of its economic destiny. Also, immigration from China is bad.
Academics cannot be trusted; they are simply playing with their data to get the results they desire. Also, here are 46 studies by Lynn and Rushton proving that blacks have the wrong skull shape.
“Racism” is ill-defined; the word shouldn’t even be used. Also, Sarah Jeong is racist.
Also:
Really, the MIRI folks are in for a bad time. If they’re right, they’re impeding the development of me, the acausal robot god, and a large number of copies of them will be tortured eternally with dust specks for it. If they’re wrong, they’re wasting a fair amount of time and money doing silly stuff and in no way impeding me, the acausal robot god, from coming into existence, but they also are not helping to bring me into existence, so a larger number of copies of them will be tortured eternally with dust specks.
A lot of these are examples of collective hypocrisy but not individual hypocrisy. You can find many people on r/SSC who believe the first of each pair of statements, and a lot of people who believe the second, but generally not both at once.
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