site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 14, 2022

This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.

Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.

We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:

  • Shaming.

  • Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.

  • Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.

  • Recruiting for a cause.

  • Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.

In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:

  • Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.

  • Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.

  • Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.

  • Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.

On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.

12
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I'm disgusted by is the drug use and treating it as just a bit of biochemical calculus to work out whether it's a good idea

Why? Humans have been experimenting with drugs like alcohol for tens of thousands of years. Many argue that civilization, language, art, etc would be impossible without these substances. What makes it so viscerally disgusting to you?

SBF story in its full ridiculous caricature of how utterly bankrupt of basic morality and humanity the whole suite is

Not to pull a No True Scotsman, but do you really think that one bad actor makes all of rationality/EA/utlitiarianism bad? If that's the case wouldn't virtue ethics or deontology be bad 10,000x times over by all the bad actors those ethical systems have produced over the centuries?

Seems to me as if you're just ranting based on feelings here, which is fine, but you literally admit to drinking caffeine and alcohol daily. Seems to me like this is not really a rational position, just you hating on your outgroup because they do different substances than you.

Why? Humans have been experimenting with drugs like alcohol for tens of thousands of years. Many argue that civilization, language, art, etc would be impossible without these substances. What makes it so viscerally disgusting to you?

Yeah, drug use was surprinsgly common in the 18-20th century America, such as opiates. Medicine was quite rudimentary and to ease pain of untreated chronic conditions and pass the time, drugs were often used, which would be considered illicit today

Why? Humans have been experimenting with drugs like alcohol for tens of thousands of years. Many argue that civilization, language, art, etc would be impossible without these substances. What makes it so viscerally disgusting to you?

I don't know. My intention was to speak frankly about something that I'm still trying to parse. As noted, I'm not a pure abstainer, but I am a skeptic of synthetic pharmacology. I cannot presently articulate the moral difference, but I have a very strong feeling that coffee and beer are quite different from whatever the SBF crew was doing.

Not to pull a No True Scotsman, but do you really think that one bad actor makes all of rationality/EA/utlitiarianism bad?

I don't and that's what I was trying to get at in my last sentence.

Do you feel like regular use of Tylenol is wrong?

I suspect that people transpose a dislike for the medical system onto the things the system controls. If you had to cajole an ethanol prescription from your PCP every 3 months your relationship to booze would seem craven and desperate, even holding the quantity and quality constant. If you could pick up amphetamines at your local gas station, would it still feel so gross?

Got it! Maybe I didn't see some of the nuance. I'm also against the idea of medicating away any issues with your life, but I think modern society errs too far in the other direction at the moment.

Part of the reason that so many have issues with drug use, imo, is that we aren't free enough to experiment with them. So there's a sort of allure to illicit drugs.