Hmm, I hear what you are saying but that could easily be attributed to some mix of
(1) he has really good/convincing ideas
(2) he seems to be a a public representative for the EA/LW community for a journalist on the outside.
And I’m responding to someone saying that we are in “phase 3”—that is to say people in the public are listening to us—so I guess I’m not extremely concerned about him not being able to draw attention or convince people. I’m more just generally worried that people like him are not who we should be promoting to positions of power, even if those are de jure positions.
Yeah, I’m not a Yudkowsky fan. But I think the fact that he mostly hasn’t been a PR disaster is striking, surprising and not much remarked upon, including by people who are big fans.
I guess in thinking about this I realize it’s so hard to even know if someone is a “PR disaster” that I probably have just been confirming my biases. What makes you say that he hasn’t been?
Just the stuff I already said about the success he seems to have had. It is also true that many people hate him and think he’s ridiculous, but I think that makes him polarizing rather than disastrous. I suppose you could phrase it as “he was a disaster in some ways but a success in others” if you want to.
Hmm, I hear what you are saying but that could easily be attributed to some mix of
(1) he has really good/convincing ideas
(2) he seems to be a a public representative for the EA/LW community for a journalist on the outside.
And I’m responding to someone saying that we are in “phase 3”—that is to say people in the public are listening to us—so I guess I’m not extremely concerned about him not being able to draw attention or convince people. I’m more just generally worried that people like him are not who we should be promoting to positions of power, even if those are de jure positions.
Yeah, I’m not a Yudkowsky fan. But I think the fact that he mostly hasn’t been a PR disaster is striking, surprising and not much remarked upon, including by people who are big fans.
I guess in thinking about this I realize it’s so hard to even know if someone is a “PR disaster” that I probably have just been confirming my biases. What makes you say that he hasn’t been?
Just the stuff I already said about the success he seems to have had. It is also true that many people hate him and think he’s ridiculous, but I think that makes him polarizing rather than disastrous. I suppose you could phrase it as “he was a disaster in some ways but a success in others” if you want to.