Can you provide some examples of these “abusive personal attacks”? I would also be interested in this ruthless suppression you mention. I have never seen this sort of behavior on LessWrong, and would be shocked to find it among those who support the Singularity Institute in general.
I’ve read a few of your previous comments, and while I felt that they were not strong arguments, I didn’t downvote them because they were intelligent and well-written, and competent constructive criticism is something we don’t get nearly enough of. Indeed, it is usually welcomed. The amount of downvotes given to the comments, therefore, does seem odd to me. (Any LW regular who is familiar with the situation is also welcome to comment on this.)
I have seen something like this before, and it turned out the comments were being downvoted because the person making them had gone over, and over, and over the same issues, unable or unwilling to either competently defend them, or change his own mind. That’s no evidence that the same thing is happening here, of course, but I give the example because in my experience, this community is almost never vindictive or malicious, and is laudably willing to consider any cogent argument. I’ve never seen an actual insult levied here by any regular, for instance, and well-constructed dissenting opinions are actively encouraged.
So in summary, I am very curious about this situation; why would a community that has been—to me, almost shockingly—consistent in its dedication to rationality, and honestly evaluating arguments regardless of personal feelings, persecute someone simply for presenting a dissenting opinion?
One final thing I will note is that you do seem to be upset about past events, and it seems like it colors your view (and prose, a bit!). From checking both here and on SL4, for instance, your later claims regarding what’s going on (“dissent is ruthlessly suppressed”) seem exaggerated. But I don’t know the whole story, obviously—thus this question.
So in summary, I am very curious about this situation; why would a community that has been—to me, almost shockingly—consistent in its dedication to rationality, and honestly evaluating arguments regardless of personal feelings, persecute someone simply for presenting a dissenting opinion?
The answer is probably that you overestimate that community’s dedication to rationality because you share its biases. The main post demonstrates an enormous conceit among the SI vanguard. Now, how is that rational? How does it fail to get extensive scrutiny in a community of rationalists?
My take is that neither side in this argument distinguished itself. Loosemore called for an “outside adjudicator” to solve a scientific argument. What kind of obnoxious behavior is that, when one finds oneself losing an argument? Yudkowsky (rightfully pissed off) in turn, convicted Loosemore of a scientific error, tarred him with incompetence and dishonesty, and banned him. None of these “sins” deserved a ban (no wonder the raw feelings come back to haunt); no honorable person would accept a position where he has the authority to exercise such power (a party to a dispute is biased). Or at the very least, he wouldn’t use it the way Yudkowsky did, when he was the banned party’s main antagonist.
The answer is probably that you overestimate that community’s dedication to rationality because you share its biases.
That’s probably no small part of it. However, even if my opinion of the community is tinted rose, note that I refer specifically to observation. That is, I’ve sampled a good amount of posts and comments here on LessWrong, and I see people behaving rationally in arguments—appreciation of polite and lucid dissension, no insults or ad hominem attacks, etc. It’s harder to tell what’s going on with karma, but again, I’ve not seen any one particular individual harassed with negative karma merely for disagreeing.
The main post demonstrates an enormous conceit among the SI vanguard. Now, how is that rational? How does it fail to get extensive scrutiny in a community of rationalists?
Can you elaborate, please? I’m not sure what enormous conceit you refer to.
My take is that neither side in this argument distinguished itself. Loosemore called for an “outside adjudicator” to solve a scientific argument. What kind of obnoxious behavior is that, when one finds oneself losing an argument? Yudkowsky (rightfully pissed off) in turn, convicted Loosemore of a scientific error, tarred him with incompetence and dishonesty, and banned him. None of these “sins” deserved a ban
I think that’s an excellent analysis. I certainly feel like Yudkowsky overreacted, and as you say, in the circumstances no wonder it still chafes; but as I say above, Richard’s arguments failed to impress, and calling for outside help (“adjudication” for an argument that should be based only on facts and logic?) is indeed beyond obnoxious.
Thanks. I read the whole debate, or as much of it as is there; I’ve prepared a short summary to post tomorrow if anyone is interested in knowing what really went on (“as according to Hul-Gil”, anyway) without having to hack their way through that thread-jungle themselves.
(Summary of summary: Loosemore really does know what he’s talking about—mostly—but he also appears somewhat dishonest, or at least extremely imprecise in his communication.)
Can you provide some examples of these “abusive personal attacks”? I would also be interested in this ruthless suppression you mention. I have never seen this sort of behavior on LessWrong, and would be shocked to find it among those who support the Singularity Institute in general.
I’ve read a few of your previous comments, and while I felt that they were not strong arguments, I didn’t downvote them because they were intelligent and well-written, and competent constructive criticism is something we don’t get nearly enough of. Indeed, it is usually welcomed. The amount of downvotes given to the comments, therefore, does seem odd to me. (Any LW regular who is familiar with the situation is also welcome to comment on this.)
I have seen something like this before, and it turned out the comments were being downvoted because the person making them had gone over, and over, and over the same issues, unable or unwilling to either competently defend them, or change his own mind. That’s no evidence that the same thing is happening here, of course, but I give the example because in my experience, this community is almost never vindictive or malicious, and is laudably willing to consider any cogent argument. I’ve never seen an actual insult levied here by any regular, for instance, and well-constructed dissenting opinions are actively encouraged.
So in summary, I am very curious about this situation; why would a community that has been—to me, almost shockingly—consistent in its dedication to rationality, and honestly evaluating arguments regardless of personal feelings, persecute someone simply for presenting a dissenting opinion?
One final thing I will note is that you do seem to be upset about past events, and it seems like it colors your view (and prose, a bit!). From checking both here and on SL4, for instance, your later claims regarding what’s going on (“dissent is ruthlessly suppressed”) seem exaggerated. But I don’t know the whole story, obviously—thus this question.
The answer is probably that you overestimate that community’s dedication to rationality because you share its biases. The main post demonstrates an enormous conceit among the SI vanguard. Now, how is that rational? How does it fail to get extensive scrutiny in a community of rationalists?
My take is that neither side in this argument distinguished itself. Loosemore called for an “outside adjudicator” to solve a scientific argument. What kind of obnoxious behavior is that, when one finds oneself losing an argument? Yudkowsky (rightfully pissed off) in turn, convicted Loosemore of a scientific error, tarred him with incompetence and dishonesty, and banned him. None of these “sins” deserved a ban (no wonder the raw feelings come back to haunt); no honorable person would accept a position where he has the authority to exercise such power (a party to a dispute is biased). Or at the very least, he wouldn’t use it the way Yudkowsky did, when he was the banned party’s main antagonist.
That’s probably no small part of it. However, even if my opinion of the community is tinted rose, note that I refer specifically to observation. That is, I’ve sampled a good amount of posts and comments here on LessWrong, and I see people behaving rationally in arguments—appreciation of polite and lucid dissension, no insults or ad hominem attacks, etc. It’s harder to tell what’s going on with karma, but again, I’ve not seen any one particular individual harassed with negative karma merely for disagreeing.
Can you elaborate, please? I’m not sure what enormous conceit you refer to.
I think that’s an excellent analysis. I certainly feel like Yudkowsky overreacted, and as you say, in the circumstances no wonder it still chafes; but as I say above, Richard’s arguments failed to impress, and calling for outside help (“adjudication” for an argument that should be based only on facts and logic?) is indeed beyond obnoxious.
It seems like everyone is talking about SL4; here is a link to what Richard was probably complaining about:
http://www.sl4.org/archive/0608/15895.html
Thanks. I read the whole debate, or as much of it as is there; I’ve prepared a short summary to post tomorrow if anyone is interested in knowing what really went on (“as according to Hul-Gil”, anyway) without having to hack their way through that thread-jungle themselves.
(Summary of summary: Loosemore really does know what he’s talking about—mostly—but he also appears somewhat dishonest, or at least extremely imprecise in his communication.)
Please do post it, I think it would help resolve the arguments in this thread.