“On the other hand, we’ve had quite a bit of anti-cancel-culture stuff on the Forum lately. There’s been much more of that than of pro-SJ/pro-DEI content, and it’s generally got much higher karma. I think the message that the subset of EA that is highly active on the Forum generally disapproves of cancel culture has been made pretty clearly”
Perhaps. However, this post makes specific claims about ACE. And even though these claims have been discussed somewhat informally on Facebook, this post provides a far more solid writeup. So it does seem to be making a signficantly new contribution to the discussion and not just rewarming leftovers.
It would have been better if Hypatia had emailed the organisation ahead of time. However, I believe ACE staff members might have already commented on some of these issues (correct me if I’m wrong). And it’s more of a good practise than something than a strict requirement—I totally understand the urge to just get something out of there.
“I’m sceptical that further content in this vein will have the desired effect on EA and EA-adjacent groups and individuals who are less active on the Forum, other than to alienate them and promote a split in the movement, while also exposing EA to substantial PR risk”
On the contrary, now that this has been written up on the forum it gives people something to link to. So forum posts aren’t just read by people who regularly read the forum. In any case, this kind of high quality write-up is unlikely to have a significnat effect on alienating people compared to some of the lower quality discussions on these topics that occur in person or on Facebook. So, from my perspective it doesn’t really make any sense to be focusing on this post. If you want to avoid a split in the movement, I’d like to encourage you to join the Effective Altruists for Political Tolerance Facebook group and contribute there.
I would also suggest worrying less about PR risks. People who want to attack EA can already go around shouting about ‘techno-capitalists’, ‘overwhelmingly white straight males’, ‘AI alarmists’, ect. If someone wants to find something negative, they’ll find something negative.
Perhaps. However, this post makes specific claims about ACE. And even though these claims have been discussed somewhat informally on Facebook, this post provides a far more solid writeup. So it does seem to be making a signficantly new contribution to the discussion and not just rewarming leftovers.
My claim was not that this post didn’t contain new information, or that it was badly written – merely that it is part of a pattern that concerns me, and that more effort could be being made to mitigate the bad effects of this pattern.
One could imagine, for example, a post that contains similar content but is written with far more sympathy for what ACE and co. are trying to do here, even if the author disagrees (strongly) with its implementation. I think this post actually does better on this than many past posts on this topic, but taken as a whole we are still a long way from where I would like to be.
On the contrary, now that this has been written up on the forum it gives people something to link to. So forum posts aren’t just read by people who regularly read the forum.
I wasn’t saying they wouldn’t see it, I was saying they wouldn’t engage with it – that they will disagree with it silently, feel more alienated from the Forum, and move a little further away from the other side of EA than they were before. I think the anonymous comment below is quite strong evidence that I’m on the right track here.
If you want to avoid a split in the movement, I’d like to encourage you to join the Effective Altruists for Political Tolerance Facebook group and contribute there.
I’m honestly a bit flummoxed here. Why would contributing to a Facebook group explicitly aligned with one side of this dispute help avoid a split?
I’m honestly a bit flummoxed here. Why would contributing to a Facebook group explicitly aligned with one side of this dispute help avoid a split?
I set up the group, and while I have my own views on which groups are less tolerant/tolerated I’m very keen for the group to do what it suggests in the title: bring people together/encourage cooperation/tolerance in all directions etc. It is absolutely not ‘explicitly aligned with one one side’ .
(I have strong downvoted your comment for making this claim without giving any basis for it. I’ll retract the downvote if you edit/moderate this remark, since otherwise I’m fairly agnostic about the comment content)
(I’m not sure how much the group admins want the group description waved around on the Forum, given that nobody has linked to it so far. I’ve tried to strike the right balance here but am open to cutting stuff if a group admin tells me they’d prefer something different.)
The group describes itself as a “group for EAs into getting on with conservatives and liberals alike, and who want EA itself to be more welcoming to people of all different political stripes”, and links to resources that are clearly in support of open discussion and against censoring true beliefs for the sake of avoiding offence. It even explicitly says controversial topics “are welcome”, as long as you “use stricter epistemic standards in proportion to how offensive [your claim] is”.
Even though it does not make any angry claims about cancel culture, I defend my claim that this group is clearly oriented towards the free-speech end of EA and away from the censor-opposing-views-to-protect-vulnerable-groups end.
I’m not saying the group is bad! Merely that I think, based on evidence, that my claim is reasonable. I also still don’t understand why joining this group would address these problems; I think explaining the model for the last thing might be a more effective way to change my mind, but it also might be too much of a tangent for this comment thread.
Maybe your sense of what you’re claiming and my sense of what you’re claiming are using different meanings of ‘cancel culture’. In your previous comment, you wrote
‘On the other hand, we’ve had quite a bit of anti-cancel-culture stuff on the Forum lately. There’s been much more of that than of pro-SJ/pro-DEI content, and it’s generally got much higher karma. I think the message that the subset of EA that is highly active on the Forum generally disapproves of cancel culture has been made pretty clearly’
So I’ve been assuming that you were referring to ‘pro-SJ/DEI’ and ‘anti-cancel-culture’ more or less antonymonously. Yes, the group is against deplatforming (at least, without extreme epistemic/moral caution), no it’s not against SJ/DEI.
Inasmuch as they’re different concepts, then I don’t see you you couldn’t think anti-cancel-culture—which is basically ‘pro-segregation’ - culture wouldn’t help prevent a split! The point is then not to exclude any cultural group, but to discourage segregation, hostility, and poor epistemics when discussing this stuff.
I think the relevant split is between people who have different standards and different preferences for enforcing discourse norms. The ideal type position on the SJ side is that a significant number of claims relating to certain protected characteristics are beyond the pale and should be subject to strict social sanctions. The facebook group seems to on the over side of this divide.
I’m honestly a bit flummoxed here. Why would contributing to a Facebook group explicitly aligned with one side of this dispute help avoid a split?
The group is still new, so it’s still unclear exactly how it’ll turn out. But I don’t think that’s a completely accurate way of characterisating the group. I expect that there are two main strands of thought within the group—some see themselves as fighting against woke tendencies, whilst others are more focused on peace-making and want to avoid taking a side.
“On the other hand, we’ve had quite a bit of anti-cancel-culture stuff on the Forum lately. There’s been much more of that than of pro-SJ/pro-DEI content, and it’s generally got much higher karma. I think the message that the subset of EA that is highly active on the Forum generally disapproves of cancel culture has been made pretty clearly”
Perhaps. However, this post makes specific claims about ACE. And even though these claims have been discussed somewhat informally on Facebook, this post provides a far more solid writeup. So it does seem to be making a signficantly new contribution to the discussion and not just rewarming leftovers.
It would have been better if Hypatia had emailed the organisation ahead of time. However, I believe ACE staff members might have already commented on some of these issues (correct me if I’m wrong). And it’s more of a good practise than something than a strict requirement—I totally understand the urge to just get something out of there.
“I’m sceptical that further content in this vein will have the desired effect on EA and EA-adjacent groups and individuals who are less active on the Forum, other than to alienate them and promote a split in the movement, while also exposing EA to substantial PR risk”
On the contrary, now that this has been written up on the forum it gives people something to link to. So forum posts aren’t just read by people who regularly read the forum. In any case, this kind of high quality write-up is unlikely to have a significnat effect on alienating people compared to some of the lower quality discussions on these topics that occur in person or on Facebook. So, from my perspective it doesn’t really make any sense to be focusing on this post. If you want to avoid a split in the movement, I’d like to encourage you to join the Effective Altruists for Political Tolerance Facebook group and contribute there.
I would also suggest worrying less about PR risks. People who want to attack EA can already go around shouting about ‘techno-capitalists’, ‘overwhelmingly white straight males’, ‘AI alarmists’, ect. If someone wants to find something negative, they’ll find something negative.
My claim was not that this post didn’t contain new information, or that it was badly written – merely that it is part of a pattern that concerns me, and that more effort could be being made to mitigate the bad effects of this pattern.
One could imagine, for example, a post that contains similar content but is written with far more sympathy for what ACE and co. are trying to do here, even if the author disagrees (strongly) with its implementation. I think this post actually does better on this than many past posts on this topic, but taken as a whole we are still a long way from where I would like to be.
I wasn’t saying they wouldn’t see it, I was saying they wouldn’t engage with it – that they will disagree with it silently, feel more alienated from the Forum, and move a little further away from the other side of EA than they were before. I think the anonymous comment below is quite strong evidence that I’m on the right track here.
I’m honestly a bit flummoxed here. Why would contributing to a Facebook group explicitly aligned with one side of this dispute help avoid a split?
I set up the group, and while I have my own views on which groups are less tolerant/tolerated I’m very keen for the group to do what it suggests in the title: bring people together/encourage cooperation/tolerance in all directions etc. It is absolutely not ‘explicitly aligned with one one side’ .
(I have strong downvoted your comment for making this claim without giving any basis for it. I’ll retract the downvote if you edit/moderate this remark, since otherwise I’m fairly agnostic about the comment content)
(I’m not sure how much the group admins want the group description waved around on the Forum, given that nobody has linked to it so far. I’ve tried to strike the right balance here but am open to cutting stuff if a group admin tells me they’d prefer something different.)
The group describes itself as a “group for EAs into getting on with conservatives and liberals alike, and who want EA itself to be more welcoming to people of all different political stripes”, and links to resources that are clearly in support of open discussion and against censoring true beliefs for the sake of avoiding offence. It even explicitly says controversial topics “are welcome”, as long as you “use stricter epistemic standards in proportion to how offensive [your claim] is”.
Even though it does not make any angry claims about cancel culture, I defend my claim that this group is clearly oriented towards the free-speech end of EA and away from the censor-opposing-views-to-protect-vulnerable-groups end.
I’m not saying the group is bad! Merely that I think, based on evidence, that my claim is reasonable. I also still don’t understand why joining this group would address these problems; I think explaining the model for the last thing might be a more effective way to change my mind, but it also might be too much of a tangent for this comment thread.
Maybe your sense of what you’re claiming and my sense of what you’re claiming are using different meanings of ‘cancel culture’. In your previous comment, you wrote
So I’ve been assuming that you were referring to ‘pro-SJ/DEI’ and ‘anti-cancel-culture’ more or less antonymonously. Yes, the group is against deplatforming (at least, without extreme epistemic/moral caution), no it’s not against SJ/DEI.
Inasmuch as they’re different concepts, then I don’t see you you couldn’t think anti-cancel-culture—which is basically ‘pro-segregation’ - culture wouldn’t help prevent a split! The point is then not to exclude any cultural group, but to discourage segregation, hostility, and poor epistemics when discussing this stuff.
I think the relevant split is between people who have different standards and different preferences for enforcing discourse norms. The ideal type position on the SJ side is that a significant number of claims relating to certain protected characteristics are beyond the pale and should be subject to strict social sanctions. The facebook group seems to on the over side of this divide.
NB: I didn’t downvote this comment and would be interested to know why people did.
I’m confused: the bit you’re quoting is asking a question, not making a claim.
The embedded claim being objected to is that the group is “explicitly aligned with one side” (of this dispute).
Thanks! I missed that was disputed
I checked in with the other two admins about our approx political positions, and the answers were:
radical centrist
centre left-ish
centre left-ish
We’re trying to find both a social justice and conservative admin to add some balance, but so far no-one’s come forward for either.
The group is still new, so it’s still unclear exactly how it’ll turn out. But I don’t think that’s a completely accurate way of characterisating the group. I expect that there are two main strands of thought within the group—some see themselves as fighting against woke tendencies, whilst others are more focused on peace-making and want to avoid taking a side.