Michael, this post wasn’t arguing that there are no benefits to public discourse; it’s describing how my model has changed. I think the causal chain you describe is possible and has played out that way in some cases, but it seems to call for “sharing enough thinking to get potentially helpful people interested” rather than for “sharing thinking and addressing criticisms comprehensively (or anything close to it).”
The EA Forum counts for me as public discourse, and I see it as being useful in some ways, along the lines described in the post.
Michael, this post wasn’t arguing that there are no benefits to public discourse; it’s describing how my model has changed. I think the causal chain you describe is possible and has played out that way in some cases, but it seems to call for “sharing enough thinking to get potentially helpful people interested” rather than for “sharing thinking and addressing criticisms comprehensively (or anything close to it).”
The EA Forum counts for me as public discourse, and I see it as being useful in some ways, along the lines described in the post.