I am no PR specialist, but I think relevant folks should agree on a simple, sensible message accessible to non-experts, and then just hammer that same message relentlessly. So, e.g. why mention “Newcomb-like problems?” Like 10 people in the world know what you really mean. For example:
(a) The original thing was an overreaction,
(b) It is a sensible social norm to remove triggering stimuli, and Roko’s basilisk was an anxiety trigger for some people,
(c) In fact, there is an entire area of decision theory involving counterfactual copies, blackmail, etc. behind the thought experiment, just as there is quantum mechanics behind Schrodinger’s cat. Once you are done sniggering about those weirdos with a half-alive half-dead cat, you might want to look into serious work done there.
What you want to fight with the message is the perception that you are a weirdo cult/religion. I am very sympathetic to what is happening here, but this is, to use the local language, “a Slytherin problem,” not “a Ravenclaw problem.”
I expect in 10 years if/when MIRI gets a ton of real published work under its belt, this is going to go away, or at least morph into “eccentric academics being eccentric.”
p.s. This should be obvious: don’t lie on the internet.
Further: If you search for “lesswrong roko basilisk” the top result is the RationalWiki article (at least, for me on Google right now) and nowhere on the first page is there anything with any input from Eliezer or (so far as such a thing exists) the LW community.
There should be a clear, matter-of-fact article on (let’s say) the LessWrong wiki, preferably authored by Eliezer (but also preferably taking something more like the tone Ilya proposes than most of Eliezer’s comments on the issue) to which people curious about the affair can be pointed.
(Why haven’t I made one, if I think this? Because I suspect opinions on this point are strongly divided and it would be sad for there to be such an article but for its history to be full of deletions and reversions and infighting. I think that would be less likely to happen if the page were made by someone of high LW-status who’s generally been on Team Shut Up About The Basilisk Already.)
Well, I think your suggestion is very good and barely needs any modification before being put into practice.
Comparing what you’ve suggested to Eliezer’s response on the comments of xkcd’s reddit post for the comic, I think he would do well to think about something along the lines of what you’ve advised. I’m really not sure all the finger pointing he’s done helps, nor the serious business tone.
This all seems like a missed opportunity for Eliezer and MIRI. XKCD talks about about the dangers of superintelligence to its massive audience, and instead of being able to use that new attention to get the word out your organisation’s important work, the whole thing instead gets mired down in internet drama about the basilisk for the trillionth time, and a huge part of a lot of people’s limited exposure to LW and MIRI is negative or silly.
I think that your suggestion is good enough that I’ve posted it over on the xkcd threads with attribution. (I’m pretty certain I have the highest xkcd postcount of any LWer, and probably people there remember my name somewhat favorably.)
A better way to stop people pointing and laughing is to do it better than them. Eliezer could probably write something funny along the lines of “I got Streisanded good, didn’t I? That’ll learn me!” Or something else, as long as it is funnier than xkcd or smbc can possibly come up with.
What would doing it right entail?
I am no PR specialist, but I think relevant folks should agree on a simple, sensible message accessible to non-experts, and then just hammer that same message relentlessly. So, e.g. why mention “Newcomb-like problems?” Like 10 people in the world know what you really mean. For example:
(a) The original thing was an overreaction,
(b) It is a sensible social norm to remove triggering stimuli, and Roko’s basilisk was an anxiety trigger for some people,
(c) In fact, there is an entire area of decision theory involving counterfactual copies, blackmail, etc. behind the thought experiment, just as there is quantum mechanics behind Schrodinger’s cat. Once you are done sniggering about those weirdos with a half-alive half-dead cat, you might want to look into serious work done there.
What you want to fight with the message is the perception that you are a weirdo cult/religion. I am very sympathetic to what is happening here, but this is, to use the local language, “a Slytherin problem,” not “a Ravenclaw problem.”
I expect in 10 years if/when MIRI gets a ton of real published work under its belt, this is going to go away, or at least morph into “eccentric academics being eccentric.”
p.s. This should be obvious: don’t lie on the internet.
Yes.
Further: If you search for “lesswrong roko basilisk” the top result is the RationalWiki article (at least, for me on Google right now) and nowhere on the first page is there anything with any input from Eliezer or (so far as such a thing exists) the LW community.
There should be a clear, matter-of-fact article on (let’s say) the LessWrong wiki, preferably authored by Eliezer (but also preferably taking something more like the tone Ilya proposes than most of Eliezer’s comments on the issue) to which people curious about the affair can be pointed.
(Why haven’t I made one, if I think this? Because I suspect opinions on this point are strongly divided and it would be sad for there to be such an article but for its history to be full of deletions and reversions and infighting. I think that would be less likely to happen if the page were made by someone of high LW-status who’s generally been on Team Shut Up About The Basilisk Already.)
Well, I think your suggestion is very good and barely needs any modification before being put into practice.
Comparing what you’ve suggested to Eliezer’s response on the comments of xkcd’s reddit post for the comic, I think he would do well to think about something along the lines of what you’ve advised. I’m really not sure all the finger pointing he’s done helps, nor the serious business tone.
This all seems like a missed opportunity for Eliezer and MIRI. XKCD talks about about the dangers of superintelligence to its massive audience, and instead of being able to use that new attention to get the word out your organisation’s important work, the whole thing instead gets mired down in internet drama about the basilisk for the trillionth time, and a huge part of a lot of people’s limited exposure to LW and MIRI is negative or silly.
I think that your suggestion is good enough that I’ve posted it over on the xkcd threads with attribution. (I’m pretty certain I have the highest xkcd postcount of any LWer, and probably people there remember my name somewhat favorably.)
Ah yes, trying to do the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Serious replies DO NOT WORK. Eliezer has already tried it multiple times:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/2cm2eg/rokos_basilisk/cjjbqv1
http://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/2cm2eg/rokos_basilisk/cjjbqqo
and his last two posts on reddit (transient link, not sure how to link to the actual replies): http://www.reddit.com/user/EliezerYudkowsky
A better way to stop people pointing and laughing is to do it better than them. Eliezer could probably write something funny along the lines of “I got Streisanded good, didn’t I? That’ll learn me!” Or something else, as long as it is funnier than xkcd or smbc can possibly come up with.