No, it’s necessary to prevent other people from ignoring the hypothetical and going ‘I trick Omega! ha ha ha I are so clever!’ This is as about as interesting as saying, in response to the trolley dilemma, ‘I always carry a grenade with me, so instead of choosing between the 5 people and the fat man, I just toss the grenade down and destroy the track! ha ha ha I are so clever!’
There have been numerous threads about what can lesswrong/SIAI do to attract more interest and support. This argues towards a certain recapitulation of ground already covered. When I tell you things like i have been reading this site and overcomingbias for years, that I am neither particularly ignorant, particularly doctrinaire, nor particularly thick, it may well be that I would like better treatment. But it is also information about the emergent behavior of this community towards those who are probably its “hot market.”
If you look through the comments below, I don’t think you can miss that there are many commenting to whom the non-requirement of near-magical powers in Omega is news to them as well. Is site-emergent behavior of “We don’t want to see posts like this” really desirable on posts that bring this out?
I recognize there is a line somewhere beyond which you don’t dilute the site message to pick up an increasingly small number of people. Especially if your model of these people on the margins is as crackpots who are unlikely to be fixed. My opinion and suggestion is that this site in an emergent fashion (I don’t think it is the plan) draws that line too close to the orthodoxy.
When I tell you things like i have been reading this site and overcomingbias for years, that I am neither particularly ignorant, particularly doctrinaire, nor particularly thick, it may well be that I would like better treatment.
You may be none of those things but this post received the appropriate treatment (albeit with more resulting commentary that is desirable).
But it is also information about the emergent behavior of this community towards those who are probably its “hot market.”
The people who are the ‘hot market’ would be turned off by site if it contained many posts like this. Partly because of the low standard of reasoning but mostly because of the petulant whining. We don’t want that. We downvote.
There have been numerous threads about what can lesswrong/SIAI do to attract more interest and support. This argues towards a certain recapitulation of ground already covered. When I tell you things like i have been reading this site and overcomingbias for years, that I am neither particularly ignorant, particularly doctrinaire, nor particularly thick, it may well be that I would like better treatment. But it is also information about the emergent behavior of this community towards those who are probably its “hot market.”
If you look through the comments below, I don’t think you can miss that there are many commenting to whom the non-requirement of near-magical powers in Omega is news to them as well. Is site-emergent behavior of “We don’t want to see posts like this” really desirable on posts that bring this out?
I recognize there is a line somewhere beyond which you don’t dilute the site message to pick up an increasingly small number of people. Especially if your model of these people on the margins is as crackpots who are unlikely to be fixed. My opinion and suggestion is that this site in an emergent fashion (I don’t think it is the plan) draws that line too close to the orthodoxy.
Apparently I really need to write the companion piece to Please Don’t Fight the Hypothetical titled When and How to Fight the Hypothetical.
You may be none of those things but this post received the appropriate treatment (albeit with more resulting commentary that is desirable).
The people who are the ‘hot market’ would be turned off by site if it contained many posts like this. Partly because of the low standard of reasoning but mostly because of the petulant whining. We don’t want that. We downvote.