You should know perfectly well that as long as MIRI needs to coexist and cooperate with the Cathedral (as colleges are the main source of mathematicians) they can’t afford to be thought of as right wing. Take comfort at least in knowing that whatever Eliezer says publicly is not very strong evidence of any actual feelings he may or may not have about you.
I can’t figure out whether the critics believe the Cathedral is right-wing paranoia or a real thing.
MIRI is seen as apolitical. I doubt an offhand mention in a TechCrunch hatchet job is going to change that, but a firm public disavowal might, per the Streisand effect.
From reading HPMOR and some of the sequences (I’m very slowly working my way through them) I get the impression that Eliezer is very pro-enlightenment. I can’t imagine that he’d often explicitly claim to be pro-enlightenment if he weren’t, rather than simply avoiding the whole issue.
being pro-enlightment from the perspective of a science fanboy and poly amorous atheist is different than being pro-enlightment as a direct counterargument to reactionary thought. Certainly before I read NR stuff I never thought a reasonable person could claim the enlightenment was a bad thing.
You should know perfectly well that as long as MIRI needs to coexist and cooperate with the Cathedral (as colleges are the main source of mathematicians) they can’t afford to be thought of as right wing. Take comfort at least in knowing that whatever Eliezer says publicly is not very strong evidence of any actual feelings he may or may not have about you.
I can’t figure out whether the critics believe the Cathedral is right-wing paranoia or a real thing.
MIRI is seen as apolitical. I doubt an offhand mention in a TechCrunch hatchet job is going to change that, but a firm public disavowal might, per the Streisand effect.
From reading HPMOR and some of the sequences (I’m very slowly working my way through them) I get the impression that Eliezer is very pro-enlightenment. I can’t imagine that he’d often explicitly claim to be pro-enlightenment if he weren’t, rather than simply avoiding the whole issue.
The Enlightenment predates democratic orthodoxy. Monarchs like Louis XVI, Catherine II, and Frederick the Great were explicitly pro-Enlightenment.
I had thought that reactionaries were anti-enlightenment though?
It’s complicated. We reject some parts of the Enlightenment but not all. Jayson just listed three of my favorite monarchs, actually.
being pro-enlightment from the perspective of a science fanboy and poly amorous atheist is different than being pro-enlightment as a direct counterargument to reactionary thought. Certainly before I read NR stuff I never thought a reasonable person could claim the enlightenment was a bad thing.
That’s a very interesting phrase.
It may well be true in which case it reflects a very interesting feature of the territory.