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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 10, 2023

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MIRI Researcher Don’t be a Quokka Challenge (IMPOSSIBLE).

Katja Grace posts “date me” document. Asks everyone to share.

I originally posted a similar link in the small-scale-questions thread in response to Tyler Cowen linking to the doc on MarginalRevolution. What I didn’t know at the time is that Katja apparently wants this to be spread everywhere?!?!?

Object-level thoughts: I quite liked it. The document makes a compelling case that will appeal strongly to a certain demographic of men. It’s pretty much exactly what you would expect from “mid-30s Bay Area rationalist woman ready to settle down and have kids,” expanded out into a full dating profile. It certainly caught my attention.

Meta-level thoughts: OH NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING? You can send out something like this to your blog readers. They’ll know how to interpret it, and they’re the kind of people you’d be interested in anyways. You can’t toss it out into the black void that is Twitter and expect to come out unscathed. She even dropped her personal email address at the end. Guess who’s going to need a new Gmail account next week?

”If you don’t hear back in two weeks, feel free to try again, or try other means.”

Protip: If you are a woman, do not ever put something like this in your dating profile. This will be used as an excuse for some weirdo on the edge of sanity to stalk you.

I feel bad for her getting dragged in the quote tweets, but like, what did she expect? Why, in response to getting a negative reaction, is she intent on spreading it even further? That’s the opposite of what she should be doing. Everyone who would be compatible with her has already seen it.

She says she is a very online person and can deal with the hate, so she will be fine.

More interesting I found the exchange between gwern and Scott on /r/slatestarcodex

Gwern argued that dateMe.docs are a waste as they repel more than attract, Scott disagreed strongly and they are a good tool for filtering and have a high chance to find romance (Also Scott revealed that a few years ago he had a poly thing with her, so of course he took her side). Both didn't budge.

Gwern also linked to the inventor Putanomonit (who stole it from Aella really), who has a blog post about how dateMe.docs should not be used as "advertisment" (the same as a tinder profile) but as an application (send to a specific person/group of people).

https://putanumonit.com/2022/09/02/date-me-doc/

The issue at the heart of date-me docs is the same as that of dating profiles: the first thing they put forward about you is your desperation to find a date and inability to do so through the usual channels. This desperation and frustration are the absolute least attractive things about you. And while on dating apps this is ameliorated by the fact that anyone reading your profile admits to being in the same boat, putting your plea for TFW GF on platforms like Twitter where people go for mockery and indignation will, in fact, likely earn you some mockery and indignation.

Gwern argued that dateMe.docs are a waste as they repel more than attract, Scott disagreed strongly...

I was surprised to read Scott would weigh in so heavily on a topic that appeared to be... pretty dumb and lightweight. So I looked up the thread, since it wasn't linked in your comment. Scott replies twice in a row, then doubles down! What the heck? Scrolling down further, we find:

I dated Katja for two years and can say with confidence...

Ah. Scott is Katja's ex boyfriend. Much is made clear.

It really drives home the fact that yes, these people are in fact all fucking each other.