I agree. In particular, it’s a pretty general argument to be more skeptical of something than its most gung-ho advocates. And its stronger the more you think that these dynamics are going on. But for example, e.g., physics subject to experimental verification pretty much void this sort of objection.
Also, the ending rubbed me up the wrong way a bit(!):
“Lastly, I would loathe it if the same selection effects applied to this document: If I spent a few days putting this document together, it seems easy for the AI safety community to easily put a few cumulative weeks into arguing against this document, just by virtue of being a community.”
Is this basically saying that you aren’t interested in engaging in the object level arguments? (Or the meta level arguments either, for that matter?) As you say:
Readers might want to keep in mind that parts of this post may look like a bravery debate.
And:
It’s not clear to me whether I have bound myself into a situation in which I can’t update from other people’s object-level arguments.
Well, no, that was me saying that I thought it was a live possibility that this comment section would be swarmed by people with the opposite opinion in a way which was unpleasant for me. This didn’t end up happening!
This seems like a pretty general argument for being sceptical of anything, including EA!
I agree. In particular, it’s a pretty general argument to be more skeptical of something than its most gung-ho advocates. And its stronger the more you think that these dynamics are going on. But for example, e.g., physics subject to experimental verification pretty much void this sort of objection.
Also, the ending rubbed me up the wrong way a bit(!):
Is this basically saying that you aren’t interested in engaging in the object level arguments? (Or the meta level arguments either, for that matter?) As you say:
And:
Well, no, that was me saying that I thought it was a live possibility that this comment section would be swarmed by people with the opposite opinion in a way which was unpleasant for me. This didn’t end up happening!