I think you make good points—these are good cases to discuss.
I also think that motivated reasoners are not the main concern.
My last bullet point was meant as a nudge towards consequentialist communication. I don’t think consequentialism should be the last word in communication (e.g. lying to people because you think it will lead to good consequences is not great).
But consequences are an important factor, and I think there’s a decent case to be made that e.g. Bostrom neglected consequences in his apology letter. (Essentially making statements which violated important and valuable taboos, without any benefit. See my previous comment on this.)
For something like COVID, it seems bad to downplay it, but it also seems bad to continually emphasize its location of origin in contexts where that information isn’t relevant or important.
“We should be reluctant” represents a consideration against doing something, not a complete ban.
I think you make good points—these are good cases to discuss.
I also think that motivated reasoners are not the main concern.
My last bullet point was meant as a nudge towards consequentialist communication. I don’t think consequentialism should be the last word in communication (e.g. lying to people because you think it will lead to good consequences is not great).
But consequences are an important factor, and I think there’s a decent case to be made that e.g. Bostrom neglected consequences in his apology letter. (Essentially making statements which violated important and valuable taboos, without any benefit. See my previous comment on this.)
For something like COVID, it seems bad to downplay it, but it also seems bad to continually emphasize its location of origin in contexts where that information isn’t relevant or important.
“We should be reluctant” represents a consideration against doing something, not a complete ban.