I reviewed most of the executive team during my manifold betting and didn’t actually come across anybody who I could find had a history of EA affiliation besides SBF (though you may know more than me).
That… seems really confused to me. Caroline was part of EA Stanford, almost all the early Alameda staff was heavily-involved EAs (including past CEA CEO Tara MacAulay). I know less about Nishad but he was definitely very heavily motivated by an EA philosophy while he was working at FTX, had read a lot of the LessWrong content, etc.
According to FTX’s director of engineering Nishad Singh, Alameda “couldn’t have taken off without EA,” because “all the employees, all the funding—everything was EA to start with.”
It seems really quite beyond a doubt to me that FTX wouldn’t have really existed without the EA community existing. Even the early funding for Alameda was downstream of a bunch of EA funders.
I likewise don’t understand what you’re finding weird about my position? If Eliezer Yudkowsky robbed a bank, that wouldn’t make LessWrong “responsible for a bank robbery”
I mean, if Eliezer robbed a bank, I think I would definitely think the rationality community is responsible for a bank robbery (not “LessWrong”, which is a website). That seems like the only consistent position by which the rationality community can be responsible for anything, including good things. If the rationality community is not responsible for Eliezer robbing a bank, then it definitely can’t be responsible for any substantial fraction of AI Alignment research either, which is usually more indirectly downstream of the core people in the community.
It seems really quite beyond a doubt to me that FTX wouldn’t have really existed without the EA community existing. Even the early funding for Alameda was downstream of a bunch of EA funders.
Yeah, I guess I’m just wrong then. I’m confused as to why I didn’t remember reading the bit about Caroline in particular—it’s literally on her wikipedia page that she was an EA at Stanford.
I mean, if Eliezer robbed a bank, I think I would definitely think the rationality community is responsible for a bank robbery (not “LessWrong”, which is a website). That seems like the only consistent position by which the rationality community can be responsible for anything, including good things. If the rationality community is not responsible for Eliezer robbing a bank, then it definitely can’t be responsible for any substantial fraction of AI Alignment research either, which is usually more indirectly downstream of the core people in the community.
FWIW I still don’t understand this perspective, at all. It seems bizarre. The word “responsible” implies some sort of causal relationship between the ideology and the action; i.e., Eliezer + Exposure to/Existence of rationalist community --> Robbed bank. Obviously AI Alignment research is downstream of rationalism, because you can make an argument, at least, that some AI alignment research wouldn’t have happened if those researchers hadn’t been introduced to the field by LessWrong et. al. But just because Eliezer does something doesn’t mean rationalism is responsible for it any more than Calculus or the scientific method was “responsible” for Isaac Newton’s neuroticisms.
It sounds like the problem is you’re using the term “Rationality Community” to mean “all of the humans who make up the rationality community” and I’m using the term “Rationality Community” to refer to the social network. But I prefer my definition, because I’d rather discuss the social network and the ideology than the group of people, because the people would exist regardless, and what we really want to talk about is whether or not the social network is +EV.
The word “responsible” implies some sort of causal relationship between the ideology and the action
No, it implies a causal relationship between the community and the action. I don’t see any reason to constrain blame to “being caused by the ideology of the community”. If members of the community cause it, and the existence of the community had a pretty direct effect, then it sure seems like you should hold the community responsible.
In your last paragraph, you sure are also conflating between “ideology” and “social network”. It seems really clear that the social network of EA played a huge role in FTX’s existence, so it seems like you would agree that the community should play some role, but then for some reason you are then additionally constraining things to the effect of some ill-specified ideology. Like, can a community of people with no shared ideology literally not be blamed for anything?
It seems really clear that the social network of EA played a huge role in FTX’s existence, so it seems like you would agree that the community should play some role, but then for some reason you are then additionally constraining things to the effect of some ill-specified ideology
No, I agree with you now that at the very least EA is highly complicit if not genuinely entirely responsible for causing FTX.
I don’t think we actually disagree on anything at this point. I’m just pointing out that, if the community completely disbanded and LessWrong shut down and rationalists stopped talking to each other and trained themselves not to think about things in rationalist terms, and after all that AU-Yudkowsky still decided to rob a bank, then there’s a meaningful sense in which the Inevitable Robbery was never “the rationality community’s” fault even though AU-Yudkowsky is a quintessential member. At least, it implies a different sort of calculus WRT considering the alternative world without the rationality community.
That… seems really confused to me. Caroline was part of EA Stanford, almost all the early Alameda staff was heavily-involved EAs (including past CEA CEO Tara MacAulay). I know less about Nishad but he was definitely very heavily motivated by an EA philosophy while he was working at FTX, had read a lot of the LessWrong content, etc.
There is also this explicit quote by Nishad from before the collapse:
It seems really quite beyond a doubt to me that FTX wouldn’t have really existed without the EA community existing. Even the early funding for Alameda was downstream of a bunch of EA funders.
I mean, if Eliezer robbed a bank, I think I would definitely think the rationality community is responsible for a bank robbery (not “LessWrong”, which is a website). That seems like the only consistent position by which the rationality community can be responsible for anything, including good things. If the rationality community is not responsible for Eliezer robbing a bank, then it definitely can’t be responsible for any substantial fraction of AI Alignment research either, which is usually more indirectly downstream of the core people in the community.
Yeah, I guess I’m just wrong then. I’m confused as to why I didn’t remember reading the bit about Caroline in particular—it’s literally on her wikipedia page that she was an EA at Stanford.
FWIW I still don’t understand this perspective, at all. It seems bizarre. The word “responsible” implies some sort of causal relationship between the ideology and the action; i.e., Eliezer + Exposure to/Existence of rationalist community --> Robbed bank. Obviously AI Alignment research is downstream of rationalism, because you can make an argument, at least, that some AI alignment research wouldn’t have happened if those researchers hadn’t been introduced to the field by LessWrong et. al. But just because Eliezer does something doesn’t mean rationalism is responsible for it any more than Calculus or the scientific method was “responsible” for Isaac Newton’s neuroticisms.
It sounds like the problem is you’re using the term “Rationality Community” to mean “all of the humans who make up the rationality community” and I’m using the term “Rationality Community” to refer to the social network. But I prefer my definition, because I’d rather discuss the social network and the ideology than the group of people, because the people would exist regardless, and what we really want to talk about is whether or not the social network is +EV.
No, it implies a causal relationship between the community and the action. I don’t see any reason to constrain blame to “being caused by the ideology of the community”. If members of the community cause it, and the existence of the community had a pretty direct effect, then it sure seems like you should hold the community responsible.
In your last paragraph, you sure are also conflating between “ideology” and “social network”. It seems really clear that the social network of EA played a huge role in FTX’s existence, so it seems like you would agree that the community should play some role, but then for some reason you are then additionally constraining things to the effect of some ill-specified ideology. Like, can a community of people with no shared ideology literally not be blamed for anything?
No, I agree with you now that at the very least EA is highly complicit if not genuinely entirely responsible for causing FTX.
I don’t think we actually disagree on anything at this point. I’m just pointing out that, if the community completely disbanded and LessWrong shut down and rationalists stopped talking to each other and trained themselves not to think about things in rationalist terms, and after all that AU-Yudkowsky still decided to rob a bank, then there’s a meaningful sense in which the Inevitable Robbery was never “the rationality community’s” fault even though AU-Yudkowsky is a quintessential member. At least, it implies a different sort of calculus WRT considering the alternative world without the rationality community.