6.3 KiB
[Q][META] I own /r/wisdom; what should I do with it?
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Author: u/derefr *
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/3ro8tq/qmeta_i_own_rwisdom_what_should_i_do_with_it/
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Score: 21
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Created: 2015-11-05T20:24:06
Post:
I registered the /r/wisdom subreddit years ago and forgot about it. I guess some people stumbled upon it and began submitting things to it; right now, it's full of junk "inspirational" quotes. Not my idea of a good time.
Personally, I'd like to give it away to someone with a good idea for using it, who would like to take an active moderation role. I could just "release" it (by e.g. asking the Reddit staff to delete it and open it back up for registration) but my personal preference would be that it end up in the hands of someone with an at-least-vaguely-rationalist bent, who would use it to (at least try to) make people "wiser."
Any ideas? Even ideas about the right person to send an email to would be appreciated.
Comments:
u/None [+21] *
You know, I was going to post something like: "If you find a good person, I'd love to help out!" but I'll just be honest. This is an opportunity that has me brimming with excitement, I've wanted to start a community focused on making people awesome for a good while now.
I'm not the strongest rationalist here, but I am incredibly dedicated. If no one better wants to help you out I would love to. If you'd like, I could develop a plan for the community and see if it's what you had in mind.
u/derefr [+5] *
Alright, I gave you full permissions on the subreddit. You can grant other people permissions as you see fit. Let's see what happens!
u/None [+2] *
Thank you so much! I have an unusually busy weekend coming up, but I'll try to use the time to plan out exactly what I'd like to do and then I'll get back to you on it.
u/andor3333 [+3] *
Message me if you guys decide on some basic ideas. I'd be interested to see what you come up with.
u/Sophronius [+3] The Need to Become Stronger*
I would say go for it. Being dedicated is more important than super high epistemic rationality. I'm very curious what you mean by making people awesome, exactly. I might be able to help out a little bit in terms of content but probably won't have time to contribute much.
u/Rouninscholar [+1] *
I would be up to help in any way you need it.
u/None [+1] *
You've piqued my interest. If we can shape /r/wisdom as some sort of place for users to have thought provoking discussion about becoming wiser, than I am all on board. I'll definitely be checking in periodically to see what I can contribute.
u/None [+8] *
[deleted]
u/Transfuturist [+3] Carthago delenda est.*
It seems to be almost entirely CoffeeProphet. a.k.a. Aalewis.
^^^^^^^^^He's ^^^^^^^^^not ^^^^^^^^^a ^^^^^^^^^professional ^^^^^^^^^quote-maker, ^^^^^^^^^guys.
u/None [+1] *
[deleted]
u/Transfuturist [+3] Carthago delenda est.*
It's not actually Aalewis. Aalewis probably deleted his account and went to live in the wilderness in shame. This guy, though, he has an entire void to shout into that doesn't shout back. There's also "Pastor Adelaja Sunday" on the second page.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+7] Emergency Mustelid Hologram*
I'd make it a Spider Robinson fan sub. People who are familiar with Spider's work will go "oh yes of course!" or "what the heck?", but nothing in between.
u/xamueljones [+2] My arch-enemy is entropy*
I've only read Variable Star. Can you recommend which one of his other works I should read? Thanks!
u/DataPacRat [+4] Amateur Immortalist*
I'm tempted to say 'all of them', but to focus a bit: I think of the Callahan's/Lady Sally's/Jake Stonebender's series of stories and novels as classic; Telempath and the Deathkiller books shaped some of my pre-rationalist ideas about how final death had to be; and I still find myself using some memes about mental adaptability from the Stardance books.
u/russxbox [+3] *
I'll second /u/DataPacRat's suggestions, and add that the Very Hard series had one of the scarier villains I've seen in fiction, if only for the fact that someone very like him might be operating right now, and we'd never know. Also some of his short stories have really neat ideas to play around with post-read, including my favorite short of all time, Melancholy Elephants. Oh, and he's (as far as I know) currently working on the sequel to Variable Star.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+3] Emergency Mustelid Hologram*
- The Callahan's Crosstime Saloon series.
- Telempath.
- Stardance and sequels.
- Mindkiller. I can't comment on its sequels because I haven't read them. Also his short story collections.
u/russxbox [+1] *
YES! Did not realize how badly I wanted this until I read this comment, but it's perfect.
u/itaibn0 [+1] *
I've never heard of Spider Robinson; is there a short explanation it might be appropriate to associate specifically his work with 'wisdom'.
u/DataPacRat [+1] Amateur Immortalist*
He's a classic hippie, a guitar player, and one of the main themes of his work is that it's worth getting telepathic with each other if we can, especially if the way we try is by being kind. A typical example of the way he thinks was when he wrote of the internet becoming sentient for a while: someone named it by picking two words which, on their own, meant being on your own, but together, meant being together: "Sol" and "Ace", to "Solace". I'm not entirely sure I'd want him in charge of a project involving existential risks, but for just about anything on the scale of human-to-human interactions, there are plenty worse people to pay attention to.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+1] Emergency Mustelid Hologram*
Wisdom is kind of the theme of much of Spider's work, all the way back to Telempath. You really need to read some to grok it. The "Callahans" books are probably the best intro, but don't forget Telempath and Mindkiller.