Seems to be sort of an inconsistent mental state to be thinking like that and writing up a bullet-point list of disagreements with me, and somebody not publishing the latter is, I’m worried, anticipating social pushback that isn’t just from me.
somebody not publishing the latter is, I’m worried, anticipating social pushback that isn’t just from me.
Respectfully, no shit Sherlock, that’s what happens when a community leader establishes a norm of condescending to inquirers.
I feel much the same way as Citizen in that I want to understand the state of alignment and participate in conversations as a layperson. I too, have spent time pondering your model of reality to the detriment of my mental health. I will never post these questions and criticisms to LW because even if you yourself don’t show up to hit me with the classic:
then someone else will, having learned from your example. The site culture has become noticeably more hostile in my opinion ever since Death with Dignity, and I lay that at least in part at your feet.
Let me make it clear that I’m not against venting, being angry, even saying to some people “dude, we’re going to die”, all that. Eliezer has put his whole life into this field and I don’t think it’s fair to say he shouldn’t be angry from time to time. It’s also not a good idea to pretend things are better than they actually are, and that includes regulating your emotional state to the point that you can’t accurately convey things. But if the linchpin of LessWrong says that the field is being drowned by idiots pushing low-quality ideas (in so many words), then we shouldn’t be surprised when even people who might have something to contribute decide to withhold those contributions, because they don’t know whether or not they’re the people doing the thing he’s explicitly critiquing.
You (and probably I) are doing the same thing that you’re criticizing Eliezer for. You’re right, but don’t do that. Be the change you wish to see in the world.
That sort of thinking is why we’re where we are right now.
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
I have no idea how that cashes out game theoretically. There is a difference between moving from the mutual cooperation square to one of the exploitation squares, and moving from an exploitation square to mutual defection. The first defection is worse because it breaks the equilibrium, while the defection in response is a defensive play.
swarriner’s post, including the tone, is True and Necessary.
High prestige users being condescending to low prestige users does not promote the same social norms as low prestige users being impertinent to high prestige users.
While that’s an admirable position to take and I’ll try to take it in hand, I do feel EY’s stature in the community puts us in differing positions of responsibility concerning tone-setting.
Chapter 7 in this book had a few good thoughts on getting critical feedback from subordinates, specifically in the context of avoiding disasters. The book claims that merely encouraging subordinates to give critical feedback is often insufficient, and offers ideas for other things to do.
Tell everyone in the organization that safety is their responsibility, everyone’s views are important.
Try to be accessible and not intimidating, admit that you make mistakes.
Schedule regular chats with underlings so they don’t have to take initiative to flag potential problems. (If you think such chats aren’t a good use of your time, another idea is to contract someone outside of the organization to do periodic informal safety chats. Chapter 9 is about how organizational outsiders are uniquely well-positioned to spot safety problems. Among other things, it seems workers are sometimes more willing to share concerns frankly with an outsider than they are with their boss.)
Accept that not all of the critical feedback you get will be good quality.
The book disrecommends anonymous surveys on the grounds that they communicate the subtext that sharing your views openly is unsafe. I think anonymous surveys might be a good idea in the EA community though—retaliation against critics seems fairly common here (i.e. the culture of fear didn’t come about by chance). Anyone who’s been around here long enough will have figured out that sharing your views openly isn’t safe. (See also the “People are pretty justified in their fears of critiquing EA leadership/community norms” bullet point here, and the last paragraph in this comment.)
I think it is very true that the pushback is not just from you, and that nothing you could do would drive it to zero, but also that different actions from you would lead to a lot less fear of bad reactions from both you and others.
Seems to be sort of an inconsistent mental state to be thinking like that and writing up a bullet-point list of disagreements with me, and somebody not publishing the latter is, I’m worried, anticipating social pushback that isn’t just from me.
Respectfully, no shit Sherlock, that’s what happens when a community leader establishes a norm of condescending to inquirers.
I feel much the same way as Citizen in that I want to understand the state of alignment and participate in conversations as a layperson. I too, have spent time pondering your model of reality to the detriment of my mental health. I will never post these questions and criticisms to LW because even if you yourself don’t show up to hit me with the classic:
then someone else will, having learned from your example. The site culture has become noticeably more hostile in my opinion ever since Death with Dignity, and I lay that at least in part at your feet.
Yup, I’ve been disappointed with how unkindly Eliezer treats people sometimes. Bad example to set.
EDIT: Although I note your comment’s first sentence is also hostile, which I think is also bad.
Let me make it clear that I’m not against venting, being angry, even saying to some people “dude, we’re going to die”, all that. Eliezer has put his whole life into this field and I don’t think it’s fair to say he shouldn’t be angry from time to time. It’s also not a good idea to pretend things are better than they actually are, and that includes regulating your emotional state to the point that you can’t accurately convey things. But if the linchpin of LessWrong says that the field is being drowned by idiots pushing low-quality ideas (in so many words), then we shouldn’t be surprised when even people who might have something to contribute decide to withhold those contributions, because they don’t know whether or not they’re the people doing the thing he’s explicitly critiquing.
You (and probably I) are doing the same thing that you’re criticizing Eliezer for. You’re right, but don’t do that. Be the change you wish to see in the world.
That sort of thinking is why we’re where we are right now.
I have no idea how that cashes out game theoretically. There is a difference between moving from the mutual cooperation square to one of the exploitation squares, and moving from an exploitation square to mutual defection. The first defection is worse because it breaks the equilibrium, while the defection in response is a defensive play.
swarriner’s post, including the tone, is True and Necessary.
High prestige users being condescending to low prestige users does not promote the same social norms as low prestige users being impertinent to high prestige users.
While that’s an admirable position to take and I’ll try to take it in hand, I do feel EY’s stature in the community puts us in differing positions of responsibility concerning tone-setting.
Chapter 7 in this book had a few good thoughts on getting critical feedback from subordinates, specifically in the context of avoiding disasters. The book claims that merely encouraging subordinates to give critical feedback is often insufficient, and offers ideas for other things to do.
Can you give us 3-5 bullet points of summary?
Power makes you dumb, stay humble.
Tell everyone in the organization that safety is their responsibility, everyone’s views are important.
Try to be accessible and not intimidating, admit that you make mistakes.
Schedule regular chats with underlings so they don’t have to take initiative to flag potential problems. (If you think such chats aren’t a good use of your time, another idea is to contract someone outside of the organization to do periodic informal safety chats. Chapter 9 is about how organizational outsiders are uniquely well-positioned to spot safety problems. Among other things, it seems workers are sometimes more willing to share concerns frankly with an outsider than they are with their boss.)
Accept that not all of the critical feedback you get will be good quality.
The book disrecommends anonymous surveys on the grounds that they communicate the subtext that sharing your views openly is unsafe. I think anonymous surveys might be a good idea in the EA community though—retaliation against critics seems fairly common here (i.e. the culture of fear didn’t come about by chance). Anyone who’s been around here long enough will have figured out that sharing your views openly isn’t safe. (See also the “People are pretty justified in their fears of critiquing EA leadership/community norms” bullet point here, and the last paragraph in this comment.)
Sure is lovely how the rationalist community is living up to its rationality norms.
I think it is very true that the pushback is not just from you, and that nothing you could do would drive it to zero, but also that different actions from you would lead to a lot less fear of bad reactions from both you and others.