I agree that this isn’t the ideal format for engaging with someone like Pinker, who seems capable of recognizing his mistakes without needing them spelled out to quite this degree.*
Based on my experience as a journalist, conversations I’ve had with journalists, and materials I’ve read from journalists and other writers (essays, interviews, etc.), there’s often a lot of pressure, when publishing for a broad audience, to make a strong argument with few qualifications. It’s possible that Pinker gradually removed nuance from this chapter during the editing process. It’s also possible that he decided to write something forcefully one-sided to counteract what he sees as a heavily skewed public conversation.
(Finally, I’ll note that it’s probably really difficult to write a nuanced 500-page book about twenty different topics on a publisher’s deadline when you are also a famous professor with a number of other commitments.)
Even if none of my suppositions are true, I still think he’d be open to a more balanced discussion of X-risk if it started out on the right foot. Maybe Rob Wiblin could have him on the 80,000 Hours podcast? Enlightenment Now wasn’t perfect, even outside this chapter, but I think Pinker is (mostly) on our side.
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*That said, while it isn’t charitable or warm enough to work as public communication, I do think it’s an excellent essay about anti-X-risk fallacies in general. I especially appreciate Torres’ efforts to track down original sources for quotes that were taken out of context. People who aren’t as well-intentioned as Steven Pinker will make the same arguments for decades to come, and it seems good to have a collection of strong, well-sourced counterarguments.
I agree that this isn’t the ideal format for engaging with someone like Pinker, who seems capable of recognizing his mistakes without needing them spelled out to quite this degree.*
Based on my experience as a journalist, conversations I’ve had with journalists, and materials I’ve read from journalists and other writers (essays, interviews, etc.), there’s often a lot of pressure, when publishing for a broad audience, to make a strong argument with few qualifications. It’s possible that Pinker gradually removed nuance from this chapter during the editing process. It’s also possible that he decided to write something forcefully one-sided to counteract what he sees as a heavily skewed public conversation.
(Finally, I’ll note that it’s probably really difficult to write a nuanced 500-page book about twenty different topics on a publisher’s deadline when you are also a famous professor with a number of other commitments.)
Even if none of my suppositions are true, I still think he’d be open to a more balanced discussion of X-risk if it started out on the right foot. Maybe Rob Wiblin could have him on the 80,000 Hours podcast? Enlightenment Now wasn’t perfect, even outside this chapter, but I think Pinker is (mostly) on our side.
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*That said, while it isn’t charitable or warm enough to work as public communication, I do think it’s an excellent essay about anti-X-risk fallacies in general. I especially appreciate Torres’ efforts to track down original sources for quotes that were taken out of context. People who aren’t as well-intentioned as Steven Pinker will make the same arguments for decades to come, and it seems good to have a collection of strong, well-sourced counterarguments.