Sometimes, people hesitate to state the obvious because they falsely think the social norms or social consensus would disapprove. Cf. “The Emperor has no clothes.”
I once worked at a job where the decision-makers were notably conservative but the line workers were not. The line workers had a tendency to spin reports conservatively, even in situations when I think the decision-makers would not have naturally been as conservative.
That is not what Eliezer and Graham mean by “cannot think” and “can’t say” in the essays you linked.
Sometimes, people hesitate to state the obvious because they falsely think the social norms or social consensus would disapprove. Cf. “The Emperor has no clothes.”
I once worked at a job where the decision-makers were notably conservative but the line workers were not. The line workers had a tendency to spin reports conservatively, even in situations when I think the decision-makers would not have naturally been as conservative.
However, merely lifting a norm against saying obvious things is not going to solve that problem.