I’m not sure how the right decision process on whether to do salvage epistemology on any given subject should look like.
Also, if you see or suspect that this woo-ish thingy X “is a mix of figurative stuff and dumb stuff” but decide that it’s not worth salvaging because of infohazard, how do you communicate it? “There’s 10% probability that the ancient master Changacthulhuthustra discovered something instrumentally useful about human condition but reading his philosophy may mess you up so you shouldn’t.” How many novices do you expect to follow a general consensus on that? My hunch is that if one is likely to fall into the crazy, they are also unlikely to let their outside view override the inside view, assert “I calculated the expected value and it’s positive” and rush into it.
Also2, how does one know whether they are “experienced enough” to try salvaging anything for themselves?
Also3, I don’t think protecting new rationalists in this way would be helpful for their development.
To reduce the risks pointed out by OP, I would rather aim at being more explicit when we’re using salvage epistemology (here just having this label can be helpful) and poke around their belief system more when they start displaying tentative signs of going crazy.
I’m not sure how the right decision process on whether to do salvage epistemology on any given subject should look like. Also, if you see or suspect that this woo-ish thingy X “is a mix of figurative stuff and dumb stuff” but decide that it’s not worth salvaging because of infohazard, how do you communicate it? “There’s 10% probability that the ancient master Changacthulhuthustra discovered something instrumentally useful about human condition but reading his philosophy may mess you up so you shouldn’t.” How many novices do you expect to follow a general consensus on that? My hunch is that if one is likely to fall into the crazy, they are also unlikely to let their outside view override the inside view, assert “I calculated the expected value and it’s positive” and rush into it. Also2, how does one know whether they are “experienced enough” to try salvaging anything for themselves? Also3, I don’t think protecting new rationalists in this way would be helpful for their development.
To reduce the risks pointed out by OP, I would rather aim at being more explicit when we’re using salvage epistemology (here just having this label can be helpful) and poke around their belief system more when they start displaying tentative signs of going crazy.