People here describe themselves as “pessimistic” about a variety of aspects of AI risk on a very regular basis, so this seems like an isolated demand for rigor.
“Optimism” certainly isn’t the same as a neutral, balanced view of possibilities. It is an expression of the belief that things will go well despite clear signs of danger (e.g. the often expressed concerns of leading AI safety experts). If you think your view is balanced and neutral, maybe “optimism” is not the best term to use. But then I would have expected much more caveats and expressions of uncertainty in your statements.
This seems like a weird bait and switch to me, where an object-level argument is only ever allowed to conclude in a neutral middle-ground conclusion. A “neutral, balanced view of possibilities” is absolutely allowed to end on a strong conclusion without a forest of caveats. You switch your reading of “optimism” partway through this paragraph in a way that seems inconsistent with your earlier comment, in such a way that smuggles in the conclusion “any purely factual argument will express a wide range of concerns and uncertainties, or else it is biased”.
From Wikipedia: “Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable.” I think this is close to my definition or at least includes it. It certainly isn’t the same as a neutral view.
People here describe themselves as “pessimistic” about a variety of aspects of AI risk on a very regular basis, so this seems like an isolated demand for rigor.
This seems like a weird bait and switch to me, where an object-level argument is only ever allowed to conclude in a neutral middle-ground conclusion. A “neutral, balanced view of possibilities” is absolutely allowed to end on a strong conclusion without a forest of caveats. You switch your reading of “optimism” partway through this paragraph in a way that seems inconsistent with your earlier comment, in such a way that smuggles in the conclusion “any purely factual argument will express a wide range of concerns and uncertainties, or else it is biased”.
From Wikipedia: “Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable.” I think this is close to my definition or at least includes it. It certainly isn’t the same as a neutral view.