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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 20, 2023

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Your post brings to mind a bit that occasionally comes up in rationalist spaces about "shape-rotators" vs "wordcels". I've mostly just rolled my eyes at it, but now I'm thinkin there might be actually something to it, but not in the way Vice and rationalists typically describe it. I think the better (more accurate) distinction is between "thing-manipulators" and "symbol-manipulators". To me it seems obvious that the creative/theater-kid archetype is very much a "symbol-manipulator". Their world revolves around manipulating, language, allegory, emotion, etc... Conversely a plumber or Electrician is very much a "thing-manipulator" their world revolves around analog processes with clear and immediately observable consequences. The Shit and/or Electrons either flow or they don't.

While I don't think it's accurate to say that all "symbol-in the manipulators are left wing" or that "all thing-manipulators right wing" I do think there are elements of both that actively select for the respective sides. I have a degree in mathematics, but coming into it as I did, IE later in life through the GI Bill after already having had a career in the military, I often found myself butting heads with my fellow math nerds over questions of "practicality". I was that guy who would ask the lecturer "ok that's really clever and all but what's the use case", which always seemed to rub certain sorts of "pure math" guy the wrong way. For those longer-standing users who where wondering on what occasion I had to to interact with Scott Aaronson professionally here is your answer.

In any case I feel like there is a clear tension in math circles between "Pure/Theoretical" Math and the "Applied". Similarly I feel like there is a tension between more symbolic fields of engineering like software and the more physical fields (civil, mechanical, electrical, etc...). And I feel like this tension maps pretty neatly to what both you and Dreher are talking about regarding "theater kids". Back when Scott was first formulating his thrive/survive theory I speculated that the reason that the "working class" seemed to skew right-wing/survive relative to the gentry was that they were generally less insulated from consequences than the gentry were and I feel like a similar line holds here.

Being a "theater-kid" in this context is something of a luxury. The sort of luxury enjoyed by someone who doesn't have to worry about base level analog bullshit.

You were around for the GI Bill? Much respect, sir.