2014 Survey Results

Results of the 2014 LessWrong Census/Survey (1503 respondents). A data presentation across demographics (87% male, mostly white, US-centric, median age ~27, median IQ self-report 138), mental illness, politics (Social Democratic / Libertarian / Liberal supergroups), religion (70% atheist-not-spiritual), community participation (HPMOR as a major referral), numeric probability estimates, a long 'fishing expedition' correlation table, digit-ratio analyses (the finger-length/feminism correlation that 'ACTUALLY held up'), and a calibration section finding LWers are badly calibrated (overconfident on hard questions, underconfident on easy ones) with veterans no better than newbies. Light, witty annotation (much by Ozy), but fundamentally a data dump.

Quality 52 · Solid. Solid. A competently presented, occasionally interesting community-data resource (the calibration finding and digit-ratio correlation are real signals), but it is a survey data dump with light commentary rather than an essay with insight or craft — limited lasting standalone value. Scored low per the convention that survey-results posts are in-scope but minor. 52.

Claude’s paradigm shift 22 · Slight. Slight. It reports data, not ideas; essentially no publication-era conceptual novelty. 22.

Real-world impact 2 · Minor. A competently presented LessWrong-census data resource with a couple of real signals (calibration; the digit-ratio correlation); a survey data dump with light commentary, no material-world reach → RWI 2.