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TheDag  Per Aspera ad Astra  11mo ago (text post)   2755 thread views

Calling all Lurkers: Share your Dreams of Effortposting

It’s been pointed out recently that the topics discussed in the Culture War thread have gotten a bit repetitive. While I do think the Motte has a good spread on intellectual discussion, I’m always pushing for a wider range (dare I say diversity?) of viewpoints and topics in the CW thread.

I was a lurker for years, and I know that the barrier between having a thought and writing a top level comment in the CW thread can loom large indeed. Luckily I’m fresh out of inspiration, and would love to hear thoughts from folks about effortposts they want to write but haven’t gotten around to.

This of course applies to regulars who post frequently as well - share any and all topics you wish were discussed in the CW thread!

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Here are a few ideas I've been wanting to see more of. I've written on some of these topics, but want to put them out there for more discussion regardless:

  • Implications of space travel on the economy/culture war etc.

  • AI alignment based on politcal lines - seems this area is up in the air right now, but given the current partisan environment I highly doubt we'll get both partied agreed on one side or the other. I tentatively think democrats will push for safety/halting research, while Republicans will push for acceleration. I'd like to see a more rigorous analysis though.

  • The rise of the medical establishment, especially psychiatry, and how it has interacted with the downfall of Christianity and classical Western beliefs. A few other posters have written on this idea but I'm curious of the specifics.

  • Nuclear power and how/why it become so polemicized. I'm sure that everyone knows the big incidents like Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, but I'd be willing to bet there's a story to be told about the behind the scenes politicking that led to the current status quo where nuclear is toxic (heh) in public discourse.

  • Dreams and how they are totally disregarded in modern technological societies. Almost every culture throughout the world placed a large significance on dreams - now we don't! Wonder why this is and how it could play into our neuroses.

Nuclear power and how/why it become so polemicized.

I would like to read this, as I live in Japan where nuclear power has become (much more of) an issue (i.e. political talking point) ever since 2011. Too many people here seem perfectly happy confounding nuclear energy with nuclear weapons, and seem to me to have only the most muddled view of what happened in March 2011.

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