-- A whole lot of arguments on LW seem silly to outsiders. I just got finished arguing that it’s okay to kill people to take their organs (or rather, that it’s okay to do so in a hypothetical situation that may not really be possible). Should that also be deleted from the site?
It’s not deleted because it’s silly to outsiders. You said it was important criticism. It’s not.
LW has a conflict of interest when deciding that some information is so easy to take out of context that it must be suppressed, but when suppressing the information also benefits LW for other reasons.
Discussion like the one we are having here aren’t suppressed on LW. If basilisk censoring would be about that, this discussion would be outside of the limit which it isn’t.
The problem with updating on the basilisk is that you don’t have access to the reasoning based on which the basilisk got censored. If you want to update on whether someone makes rational decisions it makes a lot of sense to focus on instances where the person actually fully opening about why he does what he does.
It’s also a case where there was time pressure to make a decision while a lot of LW discussions aren’t of that nature and intellectual position get developed over months and years. A case where a decision was made within a day is not representative for the way opinions get formed on LW.
Discussion like the one we are having here aren’t suppressed
But outsiders wouldn’t have any idea what we’re talking about (unless they googled “Roko’s Basilisk”),
The problem with updating on the basilisk is that you don’t have access to the reasoning based on which the basilisk got censored. If you want to update on whether someone makes rational decisions it makes a lot of sense to focus on instances where the person actually fully opening about why he does what he does.
Just because you don’t have all information doesn’t mean that the information you do have isn’t useful. Of course updating on “the Basilisk sounds like a crazy idea” isn’t as good as doing so based on completely comprehending it, but that doesn’t mean it’s useless or irrational. Besides, LW (officially) agrees that it’s a crazy idea, so it’s not as if comprehending it would lead to a vastly different conclusion.
And again, LW has a conflict of interest in deciding that reading the Basilisk won’t provide outsiders with useful information. The whole reason we point out conflicts of interest in the first place is that we think certain parties shouldn’t make certain decisions. So arguing “LW should decide not to release the information because X” is inherently wrong—LW shouldn’t be deciding this at all.
It’s also a case where there was time pressure to make a decision while a lot of LW discussions aren’t of that nature and intellectual position get developed over months and years.
There was time pressure when the Basilisk was initially censored. There’s no time pressure now.
It’s not deleted because it’s silly to outsiders. You said it was important criticism. It’s not.
Discussion like the one we are having here aren’t suppressed on LW. If basilisk censoring would be about that, this discussion would be outside of the limit which it isn’t.
The problem with updating on the basilisk is that you don’t have access to the reasoning based on which the basilisk got censored. If you want to update on whether someone makes rational decisions it makes a lot of sense to focus on instances where the person actually fully opening about why he does what he does.
It’s also a case where there was time pressure to make a decision while a lot of LW discussions aren’t of that nature and intellectual position get developed over months and years. A case where a decision was made within a day is not representative for the way opinions get formed on LW.
But outsiders wouldn’t have any idea what we’re talking about (unless they googled “Roko’s Basilisk”),
Just because you don’t have all information doesn’t mean that the information you do have isn’t useful. Of course updating on “the Basilisk sounds like a crazy idea” isn’t as good as doing so based on completely comprehending it, but that doesn’t mean it’s useless or irrational. Besides, LW (officially) agrees that it’s a crazy idea, so it’s not as if comprehending it would lead to a vastly different conclusion.
And again, LW has a conflict of interest in deciding that reading the Basilisk won’t provide outsiders with useful information. The whole reason we point out conflicts of interest in the first place is that we think certain parties shouldn’t make certain decisions. So arguing “LW should decide not to release the information because X” is inherently wrong—LW shouldn’t be deciding this at all.
There was time pressure when the Basilisk was initially censored. There’s no time pressure now.
You underrate the intelligence of the folks who read LW. If someone wants to know he googles it.
Sure?