Balanced against that, whatever you think about the events described, this is likely to have been a very difficult experience to go through in such a public way from their perspective—one of them described it in this thread as “the worst thing to ever happen to me”. That may have affected their ability to respond promptly.
My personal guess is that Kat and Emerson acted in ways that were significantly bad for the wellbeing of others. My guess is also that they did so in a manner that calls for them to take responsibility: to apologise, reflect on their behaviour, and work on changing both their environment and their approach to others to ensure this doesn’t happen again. I’d guess that they have committed a genuine wrongdoing.
I also think that Kat and Emerson are humans, and this must have been a deeply distressing experience for them. I think it’s possible to have an element of sympathy and understanding towards them, without this undermining our capacity to also be supportive of people who may have been hurt as a result of Kat and Emerson’s actions.
Showing this sort of support might require that we think about how to relate with Nonlinear in the future. It might require expressing support for those who suffered and recognising how horrible it must have been. It might require that we think less well of Kat and Emerson. But I don’t think it requires that we entirely forget that Kat and Emerson are humans with human emotions and that this must be pretty difficult.
Of course, if they don’t post a response, at a certain point people might decide they lack further energy to invest in this and might therefore update their views (while retaining some uncertainty) and not read further materials. This is a reasonable practical response that is protective of one’s own emotional resources.
But while making this practical decision based on personal wellbeing, I think it’s also possible to recognise that Kat and Emerson might not be in a place to respond as rapidly here as they might hope to (and as we might hope they would).
I’d also add that, were I to be offering advice to K & E, I’d probably advise taking more time. Reacting aggressively or defensively is all too human when facing the hurricane of a community’s public opinion—and that is probably not in anyone’s best interest. Taking the time to sit with the issues, and later respond more reflectively as you describe, seems advisable.
I think there are practical reasons why it might take longer to prepare a comprehensive public response than the private response they were envisaging for Ben + Lightcone. That said, I also think that there are a lot of non-comprehensive responses that would have taken less time to write while still supporting their version of events, and I think it’s reasonable to update against Nonlinear in their absence.
private response they were envisaging for Ben + Lightcone
Thanks for pointing this out! I had the impression they wanted time to prepare a public response that could go live contemporaneously with Ben’s post, but reading the comments from Kat and Emerson it looks like you’re right!
Notably, it’s now been about twice as long as Nonlinear says they originally requested Ben to give them to prepare their side of the story (a week).
Balanced against that, whatever you think about the events described, this is likely to have been a very difficult experience to go through in such a public way from their perspective—one of them described it in this thread as “the worst thing to ever happen to me”. That may have affected their ability to respond promptly.
Just want to signal my agreement with this.
My personal guess is that Kat and Emerson acted in ways that were significantly bad for the wellbeing of others. My guess is also that they did so in a manner that calls for them to take responsibility: to apologise, reflect on their behaviour, and work on changing both their environment and their approach to others to ensure this doesn’t happen again. I’d guess that they have committed a genuine wrongdoing.
I also think that Kat and Emerson are humans, and this must have been a deeply distressing experience for them. I think it’s possible to have an element of sympathy and understanding towards them, without this undermining our capacity to also be supportive of people who may have been hurt as a result of Kat and Emerson’s actions.
Showing this sort of support might require that we think about how to relate with Nonlinear in the future. It might require expressing support for those who suffered and recognising how horrible it must have been. It might require that we think less well of Kat and Emerson. But I don’t think it requires that we entirely forget that Kat and Emerson are humans with human emotions and that this must be pretty difficult.
Of course, if they don’t post a response, at a certain point people might decide they lack further energy to invest in this and might therefore update their views (while retaining some uncertainty) and not read further materials. This is a reasonable practical response that is protective of one’s own emotional resources.
But while making this practical decision based on personal wellbeing, I think it’s also possible to recognise that Kat and Emerson might not be in a place to respond as rapidly here as they might hope to (and as we might hope they would).
Stated more eloquently than I could have, SYA.
I’d also add that, were I to be offering advice to K & E, I’d probably advise taking more time. Reacting aggressively or defensively is all too human when facing the hurricane of a community’s public opinion—and that is probably not in anyone’s best interest. Taking the time to sit with the issues, and later respond more reflectively as you describe, seems advisable.
I think there are practical reasons why it might take longer to prepare a comprehensive public response than the private response they were envisaging for Ben + Lightcone. That said, I also think that there are a lot of non-comprehensive responses that would have taken less time to write while still supporting their version of events, and I think it’s reasonable to update against Nonlinear in their absence.
Thanks for pointing this out! I had the impression they wanted time to prepare a public response that could go live contemporaneously with Ben’s post, but reading the comments from Kat and Emerson it looks like you’re right!