I think the claim is false, though it’s hard to prove an absence. I have never heard of anyone having a particularly strong emotional reaction to Roko’s basilisk (outside of a “sneering” reaction towards rationalists or something), and almost everyone I’ve met in the community thinks the thought experiment is not particularly interesting or important or dangerous. I do like the general policy of not talking a ton about infohazards of this type, but that’s just a broad reference class, of which Roko’s basilisk seems like a non-central example.
The Roko’s Basilisk wiki article has a lot of detail, and I recommend looking through it. It also includes these paragraphs:
Other sources have repeated the claim that Less Wrong users think Roko’s basilisk is a serious concern. However, none of these sources have yet cited supporting evidence on this point, aside from Less Wrong moderation activity itself. (The ban, of course, didn’t make it easy to collect good information.)
Less Wrong user Gwern reports that “Only a few LWers seem to take the basilisk very seriously,” adding, “It’s funny how everyone seems to know all about who is affected by the Basilisk and how exactly, when they don’t know any such people and they’re talking to counterexamples to their confident claims.”
I think the claim is false, though it’s hard to prove an absence. I have never heard of anyone having a particularly strong emotional reaction to Roko’s basilisk (outside of a “sneering” reaction towards rationalists or something), and almost everyone I’ve met in the community thinks the thought experiment is not particularly interesting or important or dangerous. I do like the general policy of not talking a ton about infohazards of this type, but that’s just a broad reference class, of which Roko’s basilisk seems like a non-central example.
The Roko’s Basilisk wiki article has a lot of detail, and I recommend looking through it. It also includes these paragraphs: