I agree it’s possible that because of social pressures or similar things the best policy change that’s viable in practice could be an indiscriminate move toward more or less epistemic deference. Though I probably have less of a strong sense that that’s in fact true.
(Note that when implemented well, the “best of both worlds” policy could actually make it easier to express disagreement because it clarifies that there are two types of beliefs/credences to be kept track of separately, and that one of them has to exclude all epistemic deference.
Similarly, to the extent that people think that avoiding ‘bad, unilateral action’ is a key reason in favor of epistemic deference, it could actually “destigmatize” iconoclastic views if it’s common knowledge that an iconoclastic pre-deference view doesn’t imply unusual primarily-other-affecting actions because primarily-other-affecting actions depend on post-deference rather rather than pre-deference views.)
I agree with everything you say about $5M grants and VCs. I’m not sure if you think my mistake was mainly to consider a $5M stake a “large-scale” decision or something else, but if it’s the former I’m happy to concede that this wasn’t the best example to give for a decision where deference should get a lot of weight (though I think we agree that in theory it should get some weight?).
I agree it’s possible that because of social pressures or similar things the best policy change that’s viable in practice could be an indiscriminate move toward more or less epistemic deference. Though I probably have less of a strong sense that that’s in fact true.
(Note that when implemented well, the “best of both worlds” policy could actually make it easier to express disagreement because it clarifies that there are two types of beliefs/credences to be kept track of separately, and that one of them has to exclude all epistemic deference.
Similarly, to the extent that people think that avoiding ‘bad, unilateral action’ is a key reason in favor of epistemic deference, it could actually “destigmatize” iconoclastic views if it’s common knowledge that an iconoclastic pre-deference view doesn’t imply unusual primarily-other-affecting actions because primarily-other-affecting actions depend on post-deference rather rather than pre-deference views.)
I agree with everything you say about $5M grants and VCs. I’m not sure if you think my mistake was mainly to consider a $5M stake a “large-scale” decision or something else, but if it’s the former I’m happy to concede that this wasn’t the best example to give for a decision where deference should get a lot of weight (though I think we agree that in theory it should get some weight?).