You have by far more information than me about what it’s like on the ground as a MIRI researcher.
But one thing missing so far is that my sense was that a lot of researchers preferred the described level of secretiveness as a simplifying move?
e.g. “It seems like I could say more without violating any norms, but I have a hard time tracking where the norms are and it’s easier for me to just be quiet as a general principle. I’m going to just be quiet as a general principle rather than being the-maximum-cooperative-amount-of-open, which would be a burden on me to track with the level of conscientiousness I would want to apply.”
The policy described was mandated, it wasn’t just on a voluntary basis. Anyway, I don’t really trust something optimizing this badly to have a non-negligible shot at FAI, so the point is kind of moot.
You have by far more information than me about what it’s like on the ground as a MIRI researcher.
But one thing missing so far is that my sense was that a lot of researchers preferred the described level of secretiveness as a simplifying move?
e.g. “It seems like I could say more without violating any norms, but I have a hard time tracking where the norms are and it’s easier for me to just be quiet as a general principle. I’m going to just be quiet as a general principle rather than being the-maximum-cooperative-amount-of-open, which would be a burden on me to track with the level of conscientiousness I would want to apply.”
The policy described was mandated, it wasn’t just on a voluntary basis. Anyway, I don’t really trust something optimizing this badly to have a non-negligible shot at FAI, so the point is kind of moot.