My intent was to point out that you can make the slippery slope argument in either direction. I wasn’t trying to claim it was more compelling in one direction or the other.
If you believe EA has Epistemic Honor, that argument works in both directions too: “Because EA has Epistemic Honor, any rules we make will be reasonable, and we won’t push people out just for having an unfashionable viewpoint.”
I do think slippery slope arguments have some merit, and group tendencies can be self-reinforcing. Birds of feather flock together. Because Scientology has a kooky reputation, it will tend to attract more kooks. See also Schelling’s model of segregation and this essay on evaporative cooling.
Perhaps it’s valuable to brainstorm compromise positions which guard against slipping in either direction. (Example: “Discussion that could be alienating should be allowed in EA Facebook groups if and only if the person who starts the discussion is able to convince a moderator that the topic is important enough to outweigh the costs of alienation.” That idea has flaws, but maybe you can think of a better one.)
and we won’t push people out for having an unfashionable viewpoint
But you think pushing them out is the right thing to do, correct?
Let me just make sure I understand the gears of your model.
Do you think one person with an unfashionable viewpoint would inherently be a problem? Or will it only become a problem when this becomes a majority position? Or perhaps, is the boundary the point where this viewpoint starts to influence decisions?
Do you think any tendency exists for the consensus view to drift towards something reasonable and considerate, or do you think that it is mostly random, or perhaps there is some sort of moral decay that we have to actively fight with moderation?
Surely, well kept gardens die by pacifism, and so you want to have some measures in place to keep the quality of discussion high, both in the inclusivity/consideration sense and in the truth sense. I just hope that this is possible without banning topics. For most of the reasons stated by the OP. Before we start banning topics, I would want to look for ways that are less intrusive.
Case in point: it seems like we’re doing just fine right now. Maybe this isn’t a coincidence (or maybe I’m overlooking some problems, or maybe it’s because we already ignore some topics)
My intent was to point out that you can make the slippery slope argument in either direction. I wasn’t trying to claim it was more compelling in one direction or the other.
If you believe EA has Epistemic Honor, that argument works in both directions too: “Because EA has Epistemic Honor, any rules we make will be reasonable, and we won’t push people out just for having an unfashionable viewpoint.”
I do think slippery slope arguments have some merit, and group tendencies can be self-reinforcing. Birds of feather flock together. Because Scientology has a kooky reputation, it will tend to attract more kooks. See also Schelling’s model of segregation and this essay on evaporative cooling.
Perhaps it’s valuable to brainstorm compromise positions which guard against slipping in either direction. (Example: “Discussion that could be alienating should be allowed in EA Facebook groups if and only if the person who starts the discussion is able to convince a moderator that the topic is important enough to outweigh the costs of alienation.” That idea has flaws, but maybe you can think of a better one.)
Nah, it does apply to itself :)
But you think pushing them out is the right thing to do, correct?
Let me just make sure I understand the gears of your model.
Do you think one person with an unfashionable viewpoint would inherently be a problem? Or will it only become a problem when this becomes a majority position? Or perhaps, is the boundary the point where this viewpoint starts to influence decisions?
Do you think any tendency exists for the consensus view to drift towards something reasonable and considerate, or do you think that it is mostly random, or perhaps there is some sort of moral decay that we have to actively fight with moderation?
Surely, well kept gardens die by pacifism, and so you want to have some measures in place to keep the quality of discussion high, both in the inclusivity/consideration sense and in the truth sense. I just hope that this is possible without banning topics. For most of the reasons stated by the OP. Before we start banning topics, I would want to look for ways that are less intrusive.
Case in point: it seems like we’re doing just fine right now. Maybe this isn’t a coincidence (or maybe I’m overlooking some problems, or maybe it’s because we already ignore some topics)