I should try and stay neutral in this, but what the hell :-)
I have to say I think this is a very weak point, Eleizer, and the examples reflect this. Sure, fetishising neutrality is a bad thing, and a bias—but as biases go, it doesn’t make the top ten, or even the top hundred, and is closely related to a very sensible idea (see next paragraph). Others have pointed out how the headmaster/great powers are probably making the right decision in the examples you mention, and how they often don’t stay neutral in many similar situations.
And though there’s no good reason to never pick sides, there are many good reasons to not proclaim yourself as taking a Side(TM); “I am a libertarian” closes off conversation (and is often intended to do so), but saying “there are good arguments on both sides; however, I feel we should at least consider individual autonomy issues” opens up conversation. Proclaiming “I am neutral” at the very start, and then building gradually towards your position, is often the best way to go (would you start conversations with religious inclined AI-interested people with “God doesn’t exist; get over it; now, let’s talk?”) In my experience, conversations that start with “you’re both equally to blame!” generally end up with one side being assigned more blame than the other.
Seems like two separate issues: one thing is what you essentially think about the matter under discussion (whether if you make it explicit to the others or not); how you approach influencing the other side is something else.
I should try and stay neutral in this, but what the hell :-)
I have to say I think this is a very weak point, Eleizer, and the examples reflect this. Sure, fetishising neutrality is a bad thing, and a bias—but as biases go, it doesn’t make the top ten, or even the top hundred, and is closely related to a very sensible idea (see next paragraph). Others have pointed out how the headmaster/great powers are probably making the right decision in the examples you mention, and how they often don’t stay neutral in many similar situations.
And though there’s no good reason to never pick sides, there are many good reasons to not proclaim yourself as taking a Side(TM); “I am a libertarian” closes off conversation (and is often intended to do so), but saying “there are good arguments on both sides; however, I feel we should at least consider individual autonomy issues” opens up conversation. Proclaiming “I am neutral” at the very start, and then building gradually towards your position, is often the best way to go (would you start conversations with religious inclined AI-interested people with “God doesn’t exist; get over it; now, let’s talk?”) In my experience, conversations that start with “you’re both equally to blame!” generally end up with one side being assigned more blame than the other.
Seems like two separate issues: one thing is what you essentially think about the matter under discussion (whether if you make it explicit to the others or not); how you approach influencing the other side is something else.
There are habits of presentation; you can’t appear consistently as X without starting to be a little like X.