I have difficulty taking this seriously. Someone else can respond to it.
was devoid of explicit information. It was purely negative.
Implicitly, I assume you meant that existential risk reduction is so important that no other ‘normal’ charity can compare in cost effectiveness (utility bought per dollar). While I agree that existential risk reduction is insanely important, it doesn’t follow that SIAI is a good charity to donate to. SIAI may actually be hurting the cause (in one way, by hurting public opinion), and this is one of multi’s points. Your implicit statement seems to me to be a rebuke of this point sans evidence, amounting to simply saying nuh-uh.
You say
you don’t make clear what constitutes a sufficient level of transparency and accountability
which is a good point. But then go on to say
though of course you will now carefully look over all of SIAI’s activities directed at transparency and accountability, and decide that the needed level is somewhere above that.
essentially accusing multi of a crime in rationality before he commits it. On a site devoted to rationality that is a serious accusation. It’s understood on this site that there are a million ways to fail in rationality, and that we all will fail, at one point or another, hence we rely on each other to point out failures and even potential future failures. Your accusation goes beyond giving a friendly warning to prevent a bias. It’s an attack.
Your comment about taking bets and putting money on the line is a common theme around here and OB and other similar forums/blogs. It’s neutral in tone to me (although I suspect negative in tone to some outside the community), but I find it distracting in the midst of a serious reply to serious objections. I want a debate, not a parlor trick to see if someone is really committed to an idea they are proposing. This is minor, it mostly extends the tone of the rest of the reply. In a different, friendlier context, I wouldn’t take note of it.
Finally,
I have to say that my overall impression here is of someone who manages to talk mostly LW language most of the time, but when his argument requires a step that just completely fails to make sense, like “And this is why if you’re trying to minimize existential risk, you should support a charity that tries to stop tuberculosis” or “And this is where we’re going to assume the worst possible case instead of the expected case and actually act that way”, he’ll just blithely keep going.
wedrifid has already commented on this point in this thread. What really jumps out at me here is the first part
my overall impression here is of someone who manages to talk mostly LW language most of the time
This just seems so utterly cliquey. “Hey, you almost fit in around here, you almost talk like we talk, but not quite. I can see the difference, and it’s exactly that little difference that sets you apart from us and makes you wrong.” The word “manages” seems especially negative in this context.
Can you please be more precise about what you saw as the problem?
Yes. Your first line
was devoid of explicit information. It was purely negative.
Implicitly, I assume you meant that existential risk reduction is so important that no other ‘normal’ charity can compare in cost effectiveness (utility bought per dollar). While I agree that existential risk reduction is insanely important, it doesn’t follow that SIAI is a good charity to donate to. SIAI may actually be hurting the cause (in one way, by hurting public opinion), and this is one of multi’s points. Your implicit statement seems to me to be a rebuke of this point sans evidence, amounting to simply saying nuh-uh.
You say
which is a good point. But then go on to say
essentially accusing multi of a crime in rationality before he commits it. On a site devoted to rationality that is a serious accusation. It’s understood on this site that there are a million ways to fail in rationality, and that we all will fail, at one point or another, hence we rely on each other to point out failures and even potential future failures. Your accusation goes beyond giving a friendly warning to prevent a bias. It’s an attack.
Your comment about taking bets and putting money on the line is a common theme around here and OB and other similar forums/blogs. It’s neutral in tone to me (although I suspect negative in tone to some outside the community), but I find it distracting in the midst of a serious reply to serious objections. I want a debate, not a parlor trick to see if someone is really committed to an idea they are proposing. This is minor, it mostly extends the tone of the rest of the reply. In a different, friendlier context, I wouldn’t take note of it.
Finally,
wedrifid has already commented on this point in this thread. What really jumps out at me here is the first part
This just seems so utterly cliquey. “Hey, you almost fit in around here, you almost talk like we talk, but not quite. I can see the difference, and it’s exactly that little difference that sets you apart from us and makes you wrong.” The word “manages” seems especially negative in this context.
Thank you for your specifications, and I’ll try to keep them in mind!