FWIW I agree that EAs should probably defer less on average. So e.g. I agree with your point 5.
I don’t like the example you gave about MIRI—I think filter bubbles & related issues are real problems but distinct from deference; nothing in the example you gave seems like deference to me. (Also, in my experience the people from MIRI defer less than pretty much anyone in EA. If anyone is deferring too little, it’s them.)
Yeah you’re right, it does seem separate, although sort of an adjacent problem? I think the larger problem here is something like “EA opinions are influenced by other EAs more than I’d like them to be”. Over-deference and filter bubbles are two ways where I think getting too sucked into EA can create bad epistemics.
I didn’t mean to call out MIRI specifically, and just tried to choose an EA org where I could picture filter bubbles happening (since MIRI seems pretty isolated from other places). I know very little about what MIRI work *actually* looks like. I’ll change the original comment to reflect this.
FWIW I agree that EAs should probably defer less on average. So e.g. I agree with your point 5.
I don’t like the example you gave about MIRI—I think filter bubbles & related issues are real problems but distinct from deference; nothing in the example you gave seems like deference to me. (Also, in my experience the people from MIRI defer less than pretty much anyone in EA. If anyone is deferring too little, it’s them.)
Yeah you’re right, it does seem separate, although sort of an adjacent problem? I think the larger problem here is something like “EA opinions are influenced by other EAs more than I’d like them to be”. Over-deference and filter bubbles are two ways where I think getting too sucked into EA can create bad epistemics.
I didn’t mean to call out MIRI specifically, and just tried to choose an EA org where I could picture filter bubbles happening (since MIRI seems pretty isolated from other places). I know very little about what MIRI work *actually* looks like. I’ll change the original comment to reflect this.