[Question] Where do LessWrong rationalists debate?

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SafkCxnBereRF5GRX/where-do-lesswrong-rationalists-debate

There are a few places where rationalists debate on internet outside of Less Wrong. Sometimes those places were created for debates that do not belong to the LW website, such as politics or investing. Sometimes they were created for a specific subgroup of rationalists, for example people who attend the same meetup. Some of them are on Slack, some of them are on Discord, some of them are on Facebook, and probably there are other places. I propose the following:

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https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SafkCxnBereRF5GRX/where-do-lesswrong-rationalists-debate?commentId=xkY5e3R7YCyz6HDh5

I spend a lot of time on the Bayesian Conspiracy discord. It’s nominally for discussion of the Bayesian Conspiracy podcast but in practice, TBC convos only happen in one channel and everything else is a rationalist hangout space.

https://​​discord.gg/​​qDJ7JWyxHE

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https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SafkCxnBereRF5GRX/where-do-lesswrong-rationalists-debate?commentId=6iHPfauAwQbBPJnxE

Hey! There are at least 3 channels where TBC-and-related-podcast-content is discussed!

(though, if you are only talking about the TBC podcast and not other podcasts hosted by the same people and that are plugged in the same places, then yes, there is only one channel).

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SafkCxnBereRF5GRX/where-do-lesswrong-rationalists-debate?commentId=5M8romfw9u9JsGdP8

Discord works just fine for most cases, but the existing LW discord is all but dead (or was, last time I looked), since it’s a separate entity and requires active competent admins and moderators. A button like "discuss this post live on Discord," possibly with a few latest comments visible, would likely make a difference by removing a (non-trivial) inconvenience.

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https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SafkCxnBereRF5GRX/where-do-lesswrong-rationalists-debate?commentId=GvLCpEKWbR62QATbX

I don’t see a good reason to encourage people to comment on a post on Discord instead of commenting on it directly on LessWrong. As far as having a space to interact via voice it seems like there the goal of having the garden become that place so it wouldn’t make sense to try to at the same time direct people on Discord for that purpose.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SafkCxnBereRF5GRX/where-do-lesswrong-rationalists-debate?commentId=dgJH6iKxp9goNy3yT

There is the Astral Codex Ten Discord server (Scott is not involved) where some debates happen.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SafkCxnBereRF5GRX/where-do-lesswrong-rationalists-debate?commentId=aLLwdXtzgg4FuY2nh

There is a Telegram group called "Less Wrong", which mostly consists of participants of the European Less Wrong Community Weekend. There are on average 1-2 topics, 30 messages a day.

I suspect this group can’t be shared via link, so PM me with your Telegram ID and I can add you to it.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SafkCxnBereRF5GRX/where-do-lesswrong-rationalists-debate?commentId=zEdKzPrkQzeC4HauD

I know of a #lesswrong IRC channel on Freenode. I think there were a few related #lw-* topical channels as well, but I’m not sure where to find them anymore. Someone claiming to be gwern is there, along with a few other regulars. I don’t know who the admins are.

I’m aware of a LessWrong slack that’s still somewhat active: lesswrongers.slack.com. I don’t know who the admins are here either.

(There were also those two Discord servers mentioned in that investing thread.)

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https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SafkCxnBereRF5GRX/where-do-lesswrong-rationalists-debate?commentId=XB4uWLGBt6cByNwog

Looks like the IRC channel is shutting down due to Freenode legal drama. They’re moving to http://​​irc.libera.chat/​​.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SafkCxnBereRF5GRX/where-do-lesswrong-rationalists-debate?commentId=m3XGbqT96d5jdpnBx

There is Rationality Europe Slack, which was originally created for participants of Vienna meetups. Currently it has 105 members, but there is a strong power law in effect: most comments are written by a few people, and most members are passive. Popular topics are: finance/​crypto, health/​supplements, future/​prepping, math/​programming, psychology, reading.

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https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SafkCxnBereRF5GRX/where-do-lesswrong-rationalists-debate?commentId=btYLyukDCwaRqtFqw

there is a strong power law in effect: most comments are written by a few people, and most members are passive.

When the population exceeds Dunbar’s number, that might be the best outcome we can hope for without layering on some kind of hierarchy or entrance exams or something.

Have you seen zulip.com yet? Their threading model seems to be able to handle subtopics a bit more naturally than Slack or Discord, but my experience with it is limited.

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most members are passive.

I suspect most members are even inactive there.

I assume only 30-50 read or write comments, suggesting that the group is far from Dunbar’s number.