LWMap/Actual Feedback

24 Nov 2023 - 25 Nov 2023
Open in Logseq
    • I got very little feedback on these reviews from the LW community (my fault, I didn't publicized them well). Here's one case of some actual feedback What are the best blogs that is "opposed" to LW? : SneerClub Below in quote blocks, responding to my text in normal format.
      • Some of the reviews were quite good. One, on Holocaust rescuers, was not so good. Here are two bits that stuck out:
      • The world certainly could use more people like that, and it's hard to find fault with an effort to reverse-engineer heroism. And yet,something about it seems off to me. Is it attempting to measure something that shouldn't be measured? Or missing the point somehow?It's not even close to obscene, but maybe it's a bit crass? I can't really make a rational case for this, but that's the point, some things are simply beyond the grasp of rationality, and should be treated as such.
      • This is poor thinking. An attitude like "some things are simply beyond the grasp of rationality" must be earned, not just asserted, in any given case. Moreover you seem to accept the rationalist notion of rationality at face value. On their view, values are taken as given and beyond rational critique, and rationality only concerns itself with the means to achieve these values. (This is not the only view they have on the matter but I think their thoughts on this front are confused.) As you correctly note elsewhere, the orthogonality thesis is incorrect. Don't, then, allow yourself to become a mysterianism about morality.
      • We are basically robots (for better or worse), subject to the causality of physics and our programming. Freedom is illusory; people respond to their environment according to their natures, and so are not ultimately responsible for their actions... This stance, while not wrong... [emphasis mine].
      • This stance is silly. It relies on a notion of freedom as sui generis agent causation, which can of course be easily dismissed. But nobody who believes in free will (other than Chisholm) believes in that. The statement "People respond to their environment according to their natures" amounts to "We are not gods capable of unbounded spontaneity, but are rather thrown into an already-existing world." Again, nobody denies this.
      • You have set up a contrast between the "sensation" of freedom and the truth of determinacy. This contrast is delusive. You should ask yourself, "How would it feel if it felt like we didn't have free will?".
      • Additionally, I found some of the formatting choices odd and unpleasant. I would rather not see I hyperlink, than see a crossed-out hyperlink leading to a blank page. You occasionally insert underscores before or after words. I have no idea what this signifies. Your footnotes overlap your map. But overall, well done.
    • Further response

      • Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it!
      • The underscores are due to a bug that I will try to fix.
      • The crossed-out hyperlinks mean "a link to a page that isn't written yet", but I can see that they might look unpleasant, I may get rid of those.
      • Re the more content-based comments about free will and morality, I'm not sure exactly what you are objecting to. I'm not all that familiar with the philosophical literature on the subject (never heard of Chisholm ie) so might be rehashing old ground.
      • As for the Holocaust being "beyond the grasp of rationality", this is a fairly common idea that I'm alluding to (not advocating it), with the mention of Claude Lanzmann at the start of the essay being an example. Just as some religions prohibit depictions of God, some people consider the Holocaust an event of such inverse sacrality that it shouldn't be represented or reasoned about.