I think we need to be a bit careful with this, as I saw many highly upvoted posts that in my opinion have been actively harmful. Some very clear examples:
Theses on Sleep, claiming that sleep is not that important. I know at least one person that tried to sleep 6 hours/day for a few weeks after reading this, with predictable results
In general, I think we should promote more posts like “Veg*ns should take B12 supplements, according to nearly-unanimous expert consensus” while not promoting posts like “Veg*nism entails health tradeoffs”, when there is no scientific evidence of this and expert consensus of the contrary. (I understand that your intention was not to claim that a vegan diet was worse than an average non-vegan diet, but that’s how most readers I’ve spoken to updated in response to your posts.)
I would be very excited about encouraging posts that broadcast knowledge where there is expert consensus that is widely neglected (e.g. Veg*ns should take B12 supplements), but I think it can also be very easy to overvalue hard-to-measure benefits, and we should keep in mind that the vast majority of posts get forgotten after a few days.
I think you are incorrectly conflating being mistaken and being “actively harmful” (what does actively mean here?) I think most things that are well-written and contain interesting true information or perspectives are helpful, your examples included.
Truth-seeking is a long game that is mostly about people exploring ideas, not about people trying to minimize false beliefs at each individual moment.
I think you are incorrectly conflating being mistaken and being “actively harmful”
That’s a fair point, I listed posts that were clearly not only mistaken but also harmful, to highlight that the cost-benefit analysis of “good posts” as a category is very non-obvious.
(what does actively mean here?)
I shouldn’t have used the term “actively”, I edited the comment.
I think most things that are well-written and contain interesting true information or perspectives are helpful, your examples included.
I fear that there’s a very real risk of building castles in the sky, where interesting true information gets mixed with interesting not-so-true information and woven into a misleading narrative that causes bad consequences, that this happens often, and that we should be mindful of that.
I should have explicitly mentioned it, but I mostly agree with Elizabeth’s quick take. I just want to highlight that while some “good posts” “generate a lot of positive externalities”, many other “good posts” are wrong and harmful (and many many more get forgotten after a few days). I’m also probably more skeptical of hard-to-measure diffuse benefits without a clear theory of change or observable measures and feedback loops.
I think we need to be a bit careful with this, as I saw many highly upvoted posts that in my opinion have been
activelyharmful. Some very clear examples:Theses on Sleep, claiming that sleep is not that important. I know at least one person that tried to sleep 6 hours/day for a few weeks after reading this, with predictable results
A Chemical Hunger, “a series by the authors of the blog Slime Mold Time Mold (SMTM) that has been received positively on LessWrong, argues that the obesity epidemic is entirely caused by environmental contaminants.” It wouldn’t surprise me if it caused several people to update their diets in worse ways, or in general have a worse model of obesity
In general, I think we should promote more posts like “Veg*ns should take B12 supplements, according to nearly-unanimous expert consensus” while not promoting posts like “Veg*nism entails health tradeoffs”, when there is no scientific evidence of this and expert consensus of the contrary. (I understand that your intention was not to claim that a vegan diet was worse than an average non-vegan diet, but that’s how most readers I’ve spoken to updated in response to your posts.)
I would be very excited about encouraging posts that broadcast knowledge where there is expert consensus that is widely neglected (e.g. Veg*ns should take B12 supplements), but I think it can also be very easy to overvalue hard-to-measure benefits, and we should keep in mind that the vast majority of posts get forgotten after a few days.
I think you are incorrectly conflating being mistaken and being “actively harmful” (what does actively mean here?) I think most things that are well-written and contain interesting true information or perspectives are helpful, your examples included.
Truth-seeking is a long game that is mostly about people exploring ideas, not about people trying to minimize false beliefs at each individual moment.
That’s a fair point, I listed posts that were clearly not only mistaken but also harmful, to highlight that the cost-benefit analysis of “good posts” as a category is very non-obvious.
I shouldn’t have used the term “actively”, I edited the comment.
I fear that there’s a very real risk of building castles in the sky, where interesting true information gets mixed with interesting not-so-true information and woven into a misleading narrative that causes bad consequences, that this happens often, and that we should be mindful of that.
I should have explicitly mentioned it, but I mostly agree with Elizabeth’s quick take. I just want to highlight that while some “good posts” “generate a lot of positive externalities”, many other “good posts” are wrong and harmful (and many many more get forgotten after a few days). I’m also probably more skeptical of hard-to-measure diffuse benefits without a clear theory of change or observable measures and feedback loops.