“Unofficial 2024 LessWrong Survey Results” by Screwtape

Thanks to everyone who took the Unofficial 2024 LessWrong Survey. For the results, check out the data below.

The Data

0. Population

There were two hundred and seventy nine respondents over thirty three days. Previous surveys have been run over the last decade and a half.

2009: 166
2011: 1090
2012: 1195
2013: 1636
2014: 1503
2016: 3083
2017: "About 300"
2020: 61
2022: 186
2023: 558
2024: 279

That's an annoying drop. I put a bit less oomph into spreading the good word of the census this year largely due to a packed December, but I’d hoped to get above a thousand anyway. Hope is a strategy, but it's not a very good strategy.

Out of curiosity, I checked the Slate Star Codex/ Astral Codex Ten survey numbers.

2014: 649
2017: 5500
2018: 8077
2019: 8171
2020: 8043
2022: 7341
2024: 5982

That comparison makes me [...]

---

Outline:

(00:14) The Data

(00:17) 0. Population

(03:23) 1. Demographics

(06:00) 2. Sex, Gender, and Relationships

(10:21) 3. Work and Education

(13:24) 4. Politics and Religion

(19:11) 5. Numbers Which Attempt To Measure Intellect

(22:04) 6. LessWrong, the basics

(32:44) 7. LessWrong, the community

(38:40) 8. Probabilities

(45:15) 9. Traditional LessWrong Census Questions

(49:12) 10. LessWrong Team Questions

(59:00) XI. Adjacent Community Questions

(01:04:35) XII. Indulging My Curiosity

(01:16:31) XIII. Detailed Miscellaneous Questions

(01:20:19) XIV: Bonus Political Questions

(01:24:32) XV: Wrapup

(01:26:15) Fishing Expeditions

(01:26:19) Meetup Comparisons

(01:31:34) What's the community overlap like anyway?

(01:34:04) Skill Issues

(01:34:07) What might influence how rational someone is?

(01:41:08) How might you measure how rational someone is?

(02:05:00) Conclusions

(02:05:03) About the respondents

(02:05:55) About the survey

(02:08:57) The public data

---

First published:
March 14th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/gpZBWNFxymsqnPB92/unofficial-2024-lesswrong-survey-results

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---