I don’t think that gets at the core of the criticism.
I think the position is:
“You shouldn’t be allowed to argue that policy X is good in the abstract scenario A if policy is is dangerous in the world in which you are living B and the fact that you argue that X is good in A increases the chances that X will be adopted in B.”
I’d suggest unpacking that “shouldn’t be allowed”.
To me, it reads something like:
“Let’s say that in abstract scenario S, policy X sounds like a utility-maximizing proposal; but in the world we’re living, policy X would hurt our neighbors A, B, and C. If we spend our social time chatting about policy X and how great it would be, and chide people who criticize policy X that they are not being good utility maximizers, we should predict that A, B, and C will see us as a threat to their well-being.”
That last bit is the part I think a lot of this discussion is missing.
I’d suggest unpacking that “shouldn’t be allowed”.
I do think that apophenia calls for community rules that constitute “safety belts” with limit what people can say. I would highly predict that they would favor a policy for lesswrong where lesswrong moderators would delete posts that make such arguments.
But you are right, the part about neighbors also matters.
I don’t think that gets at the core of the criticism.
I think the position is: “You shouldn’t be allowed to argue that policy X is good in the abstract scenario A if policy is is dangerous in the world in which you are living B and the fact that you argue that X is good in A increases the chances that X will be adopted in B.”
I’d suggest unpacking that “shouldn’t be allowed”.
To me, it reads something like:
“Let’s say that in abstract scenario S, policy X sounds like a utility-maximizing proposal; but in the world we’re living, policy X would hurt our neighbors A, B, and C. If we spend our social time chatting about policy X and how great it would be, and chide people who criticize policy X that they are not being good utility maximizers, we should predict that A, B, and C will see us as a threat to their well-being.”
That last bit is the part I think a lot of this discussion is missing.
I do think that apophenia calls for community rules that constitute “safety belts” with limit what people can say. I would highly predict that they would favor a policy for lesswrong where lesswrong moderators would delete posts that make such arguments.
But you are right, the part about neighbors also matters.