“The philosophy-based contrarian culture means participants are incentivized to produce ‘fucking insane and bad’ ideas, which in turn become what many commentators latch to when trying to grasp what’s distinctive about EA.”
(Was that originally in the article? If so it’s been edited now)
Regardless, I’ve been concerned for years about the perverse incentives for (EA) academics both to produce weird ideas and to end the discussion of those ideas with ‘more research necessary’. While I also disagree with much of the article, I’m glad to finally see that sentiment in print. It needs to be discussed much more IMO.
Just seeing this, but yes it was a quote from the original piece! FWIW I appreciate your use of “weird” vs. the original author’s more colorful language (though no idea if that’s what your pre-edit comment was in reference to)
(Was that originally in the article? If so it’s been edited now)
Regardless, I’ve been concerned for years about the perverse incentives for (EA) academics both to produce weird ideas and to end the discussion of those ideas with ‘more research necessary’. While I also disagree with much of the article, I’m glad to finally see that sentiment in print. It needs to be discussed much more IMO.
Just seeing this, but yes it was a quote from the original piece! FWIW I appreciate your use of “weird” vs. the original author’s more colorful language (though no idea if that’s what your pre-edit comment was in reference to)