Scott Garrabrant conceived of FFS as an extension & generalization of Pearlian causality that answers questions that are not dealt well with in the Pearlian framework. He is aware of Pearl’s work and explicitly builds on it.
It’s not a distinct approach as much as an extension.
The paper you mentioned discusses the problem of figuring out what the right variables are but poses no solution (as far as I can tell). That shouldn’t surprise because the problem is very hard. Many people have thought about it but there is only one Garrabrant.
I do agree with your overall perspective that people in alignment are quite insular, unaware of the literature and often reinventing the wheel.
Scott Garrabrant conceived of FFS as an extension & generalization of Pearlian causality that answers questions that are not dealt well with in the Pearlian framework. He is aware of Pearl’s work and explicitly builds on it. It’s not a distinct approach as much as an extension. The paper you mentioned discusses the problem of figuring out what the right variables are but poses no solution (as far as I can tell). That shouldn’t surprise because the problem is very hard. Many people have thought about it but there is only one Garrabrant.
I do agree with your overall perspective that people in alignment are quite insular, unaware of the literature and often reinventing the wheel.