Hm, so. Even just saying you don’t give him credit for the edits is at least a partial acknowledgement in my book, if you actually mean “no credit” and not “a little credit but not enough”. It helps narrow down where we disagree, because I do give him credit for them—I think it would be better if he’d started with the current version, but I think it would be much worse if he’d stopped with the first version.
But also, I guess I still don’t really know what makes this a straw for you, last or otherwise. Like I don’t know if it would still be a straw if Eliezer had started with the current version. And I don’t really have a sense of what you think Eliezer thinks. (Or if you think “what Eliezer thinks” is even a thing it’s sensible to try to talk about.) It seems you think this was really bad[1], worse than Rob’s criticism (which I think I agree with) would suggest. But I don’t know why you think that.
Which, again. No obligation to share, and I think what you’ve already shared is an asset to the conversation. But that’s where I’m at.
[1]: I get this impression from your earlier comments. Describing it as “the last straw” kind of makes it sound like not a big deal individually, but I don’t think that’s what you intended?
It would still be a straw if it started with the current version, because it is defending Scott for holding positions and supporting people I find indefensible. The moment someone like Steve Sailer is part of your “general theory of who to listen to”, you’re intellectually dead to me.
The last straw for me is that the community didn’t respond to that with “wow, Scott’s a real POS, time to distance ourselves from him and diagnose why we ever thought he was someone we wanted around”. Instead, it responded with “yep that sounds about right”. Which means the community is as indefensible as Scott is. And Eliezer, specifically, doing it meant that it wasn’t even a case of “well maybe the rank and file have some problems but at least the leadership...”
Hm, so. Even just saying you don’t give him credit for the edits is at least a partial acknowledgement in my book, if you actually mean “no credit” and not “a little credit but not enough”. It helps narrow down where we disagree, because I do give him credit for them—I think it would be better if he’d started with the current version, but I think it would be much worse if he’d stopped with the first version.
But also, I guess I still don’t really know what makes this a straw for you, last or otherwise. Like I don’t know if it would still be a straw if Eliezer had started with the current version. And I don’t really have a sense of what you think Eliezer thinks. (Or if you think “what Eliezer thinks” is even a thing it’s sensible to try to talk about.) It seems you think this was really bad[1], worse than Rob’s criticism (which I think I agree with) would suggest. But I don’t know why you think that.
Which, again. No obligation to share, and I think what you’ve already shared is an asset to the conversation. But that’s where I’m at.
[1]: I get this impression from your earlier comments. Describing it as “the last straw” kind of makes it sound like not a big deal individually, but I don’t think that’s what you intended?
It would still be a straw if it started with the current version, because it is defending Scott for holding positions and supporting people I find indefensible. The moment someone like Steve Sailer is part of your “general theory of who to listen to”, you’re intellectually dead to me.
The last straw for me is that the community didn’t respond to that with “wow, Scott’s a real POS, time to distance ourselves from him and diagnose why we ever thought he was someone we wanted around”. Instead, it responded with “yep that sounds about right”. Which means the community is as indefensible as Scott is. And Eliezer, specifically, doing it meant that it wasn’t even a case of “well maybe the rank and file have some problems but at least the leadership...”