To be explicit, here are some reasons that the EA community should cancel Kaczynski. Note that I do not necessarily think that they are sound or decisive.
EAs are known as utilitarians who are concerned about the impact of AI technology. By associating with him, that could give people the false impression that EAs are in favour of terroristic bombing campaigns to retard technological development, which would damage the EA community.
His threat to bomb more people and buildings if the Washington Post (WaPo) didn’t publish his manifesto damaged good discourse norms by inducing the WaPo to talk about something it wasn’t otherwise inclined to talk about, and good discourse norms are important for effective altruism.
It seems to me (not having read the manifesto) that the policies he advocates would cause large amounts of harm. For instance, without modern medical technology, I and many others would not have survived to the age of one year.
His bombing campaign is evidence of very poor character.
To be explicit, here are some reasons that the EA community should cancel Kaczynski. Note that I do not necessarily think that they are sound or decisive.
EAs are known as utilitarians who are concerned about the impact of AI technology. By associating with him, that could give people the false impression that EAs are in favour of terroristic bombing campaigns to retard technological development, which would damage the EA community.
His threat to bomb more people and buildings if the Washington Post (WaPo) didn’t publish his manifesto damaged good discourse norms by inducing the WaPo to talk about something it wasn’t otherwise inclined to talk about, and good discourse norms are important for effective altruism.
It seems to me (not having read the manifesto) that the policies he advocates would cause large amounts of harm. For instance, without modern medical technology, I and many others would not have survived to the age of one year.
His bombing campaign is evidence of very poor character.