Some time ago I noticed this trend among people I respect on Twitter (motivating examples). It seems to me that there is a consensus view that openness has a damaging effect on discourse.
This view does not seem to stem from the problem addressed by “Well-Kept Gardens Die By Pacifism” and “Evaporative Cooling of Group Beliefs” -the gradual decline of a community due to environmental exposure- but rather from the problem that you percieve: the reputational hazard of public fora.
My current stance on public discourse is that it serves as a discovery mechanism: writing and speaking in public serves to find people worth talking with in private.
That connects with my piece on the EA Forum, Articles are Invitations. That’s a nice way to look at it. Over time, I’ve come to see article writing, including scientific articles, as primarily ways to coordinate people to work together, and only having a secondary purpose to convey information. That doesn’t mean that their information-conveying purpose is unimportant, but rather that their coordination function is extremely important and often neglected.
Some time ago I noticed this trend among people I respect on Twitter (motivating examples). It seems to me that there is a consensus view that openness has a damaging effect on discourse.
This view does not seem to stem from the problem addressed by “Well-Kept Gardens Die By Pacifism” and “Evaporative Cooling of Group Beliefs” -the gradual decline of a community due to environmental exposure- but rather from the problem that you percieve: the reputational hazard of public fora.
My current stance on public discourse is that it serves as a discovery mechanism: writing and speaking in public serves to find people worth talking with in private.
That connects with my piece on the EA Forum, Articles are Invitations. That’s a nice way to look at it. Over time, I’ve come to see article writing, including scientific articles, as primarily ways to coordinate people to work together, and only having a secondary purpose to convey information. That doesn’t mean that their information-conveying purpose is unimportant, but rather that their coordination function is extremely important and often neglected.