Thanks, those are good points. I agree that this is not black and white, that there are some positives to being edgy.
That said, I don’t think you make a good case for the alternative view. I wouldn’t say that the problem with Hanson’s tweets is that they cause “emotional damage.”The problem is that they contribute to the toxoplasmosa of rage dynamics (esp. combined with some people’s impulse to defend everything about them). My intuition is that this negative effect outweighs the positive effects you describe.
The “alternative view” (“emotional damage”) I mentioned was in part trying to summarize the view apparently taken by EA Munich and being defended in the OP: “And yet, many people are actually uncomfortable with Hanson for some of the same reasons brought up in the Slate piece; they find his remarks personally upsetting or unsettling.”
The problem is that they contribute to the toxoplasmosa of rage dynamics (esp. combined with some people’s impulse to defend everything about them). My intuition is that this negative effect outweighs the positive effects you describe.
This would be a third view, which I hadn’t seen anyone mention in connection with Robin Hanson until now. I guess it seems plausible although I personally haven’t observed the “negative effect” you describe so I don’t know how big the effect is.
Thanks, those are good points. I agree that this is not black and white, that there are some positives to being edgy.
That said, I don’t think you make a good case for the alternative view. I wouldn’t say that the problem with Hanson’s tweets is that they cause “emotional damage.”The problem is that they contribute to the toxoplasmosa of rage dynamics (esp. combined with some people’s impulse to defend everything about them). My intuition is that this negative effect outweighs the positive effects you describe.
The “alternative view” (“emotional damage”) I mentioned was in part trying to summarize the view apparently taken by EA Munich and being defended in the OP: “And yet, many people are actually uncomfortable with Hanson for some of the same reasons brought up in the Slate piece; they find his remarks personally upsetting or unsettling.”
This would be a third view, which I hadn’t seen anyone mention in connection with Robin Hanson until now. I guess it seems plausible although I personally haven’t observed the “negative effect” you describe so I don’t know how big the effect is.