I can’t express my agreement with this post strongly enough.
I’ve been a hardcore utilitarian for many years, EA-interested for a few years, and (minorly) EA involved for the past year. The forum’s response to this event has shaken my belief in EA’s ability to grow and influence the world for good much more than the FTX scandal did. For starters, I no longer feel I can recommend EA to other people (for now at least) because they might check out the forum and wonder if I’m racist.
Leaving aside the question of whether Bostrom’s statement was “true” (I don’t think so, but don’t feel like litigating it in these comments), it unquestionably violated one of the strongest taboos that exists in the year 2023. There’s no question that defending it hurts EA’s credibility in the eyes of the larger world.
If you’re someone from a rationalist community or elsewhere where epistemic integrity is your first order of concern, I’m begging you to reconsider when posting on this forum. The effect of a statement on social welfare ought to be the guiding concern here.
Note that I’m not asking anyone to disregard epistemic integrity, or even necessarily compromise it. But I think most of us have “default” modes of communication (even if we try not to). On this forum, that default should favor social welfare consequences.
it unquestionably violated one of the strongest taboos that exists in the year 2023… Note that I’m not asking anyone to disregard epistemic integrity, or even necessarily compromise it… On this forum, that default should favor social welfare consequences.
If epistimic integrity violates a social taboo, then you are asking people to compromise it; you shouldn’t just handwave that away because that’s uncomfortable. Own the tradeoff if you’re going to ask for it.
This also assumes that not violating a taboo is inherently supportive of the social welfare, which I do not believe is the case. Social taboos have been wrong many, many times before, and EA is already taboo-violating and offensive to various swathes of the population. How and by whom is it decided which taboos should be obeyed and which should be violated?
I don’t imagine you’d suggest EA, had it existed in 1950, should have ignored civil rights, but favoring segregation would’ve been the dominant social position at the time and fighting for desegregation was violating a strong taboo. Or I’m wrong, and you would suggest a policy of strategic silence where local taboos are concerned?
I can’t express my agreement with this post strongly enough.
I’ve been a hardcore utilitarian for many years, EA-interested for a few years, and (minorly) EA involved for the past year. The forum’s response to this event has shaken my belief in EA’s ability to grow and influence the world for good much more than the FTX scandal did. For starters, I no longer feel I can recommend EA to other people (for now at least) because they might check out the forum and wonder if I’m racist.
Leaving aside the question of whether Bostrom’s statement was “true” (I don’t think so, but don’t feel like litigating it in these comments), it unquestionably violated one of the strongest taboos that exists in the year 2023. There’s no question that defending it hurts EA’s credibility in the eyes of the larger world.
If you’re someone from a rationalist community or elsewhere where epistemic integrity is your first order of concern, I’m begging you to reconsider when posting on this forum. The effect of a statement on social welfare ought to be the guiding concern here.
Note that I’m not asking anyone to disregard epistemic integrity, or even necessarily compromise it. But I think most of us have “default” modes of communication (even if we try not to). On this forum, that default should favor social welfare consequences.
If epistimic integrity violates a social taboo, then you are asking people to compromise it; you shouldn’t just handwave that away because that’s uncomfortable. Own the tradeoff if you’re going to ask for it.
This also assumes that not violating a taboo is inherently supportive of the social welfare, which I do not believe is the case. Social taboos have been wrong many, many times before, and EA is already taboo-violating and offensive to various swathes of the population. How and by whom is it decided which taboos should be obeyed and which should be violated?
I don’t imagine you’d suggest EA, had it existed in 1950, should have ignored civil rights, but favoring segregation would’ve been the dominant social position at the time and fighting for desegregation was violating a strong taboo. Or I’m wrong, and you would suggest a policy of strategic silence where local taboos are concerned?