Yes, We Have Noticed The Skulls

A short defense of the rationalist community against the stock 'naive rationalists doomed to repeat past utopian failures' critique. The move: these are precisely the criticisms rationalists invented and turn on themselves - the road 'is littered with the skulls' of prior attempts, but 'we've noticed the skulls' and try to do the opposite (Chesterton's fence as an in-group reflex, public mistake-lists, 'aspiring' rationalists). Parallels it to how the cliched criticisms of economics and psychiatry are the ones those fields already internalized.

Quality 76 · Excellent. A sharp, memorable meta-point - sophisticated movements pre-empt the obvious criticisms - delivered with a phrase ('noticed the skulls') that genuinely propagated; but short and partly in-group self-defense. Strong. [RECAL 2026-06-19] 70->76, B32->46, RWI3->4: canonical, frequently-cited essay; 'noticed the skulls' / 'have you noticed the skulls?' is now an exported rationalist idiom (the standard criticism of a movement is one insiders already know and guard against). Badly under-ranked by early-cohort compression.

Claude’s paradigm shift 46 · Moderate. The framing is fresh and the coinage stuck, but the underlying point (movements internalize the obvious critiques; Chesterton's fence) is an application of existing ideas. Slight.

Real-world impact 4 · Moderate. A canonical, frequently-cited meta-defense whose phrase 'we've noticed the skulls' / 'have you noticed the skulls?' became an idiom in the rationalist community (sophisticated movements pre-empt the obvious criticisms). Broad conceptual uptake as an in-group idiom, but elite-discourse reach with no material change — mid RWI.