Just to be clear, what you say does not contradict the argument you are responding to. You gave a good explanation for why EY has a big influence on the community. It still isn’t clear that this is a good thing.
Yes, I’m not arguing that it is a good thing. I’m simply putting forward an explanation for why no one else has stepped in to “fill the vacuum” as some have hoped in other comments; I don’t believe there is a vacuum to fill.
Also I meant to endorse the idea that Eliezer is like Pythagoras: someone who wrote down and canonized a set of knowledge already mostly present, which is at least LESS DANGEROUS than a group following a set of personal dogma.
Actually, I think that the sequences have a fair number of original ideas. They were enumerated about a year or so ago by Eliezer and Luke in separate posts.
I do remember that and I agree I oversimplified. I mostly mean that much of the basis of his ideas that aren’t controversial here aren’t controversial elsewhere either, they just aren’t seen as his ideas elsewhere. This all makes it seem like Eliezer is more of a figurehead than I feel he actually is.
Just to be clear, what you say does not contradict the argument you are responding to. You gave a good explanation for why EY has a big influence on the community. It still isn’t clear that this is a good thing.
Yes, I’m not arguing that it is a good thing. I’m simply putting forward an explanation for why no one else has stepped in to “fill the vacuum” as some have hoped in other comments; I don’t believe there is a vacuum to fill.
Also I meant to endorse the idea that Eliezer is like Pythagoras: someone who wrote down and canonized a set of knowledge already mostly present, which is at least LESS DANGEROUS than a group following a set of personal dogma.
Actually, I think that the sequences have a fair number of original ideas. They were enumerated about a year or so ago by Eliezer and Luke in separate posts.
I do remember that and I agree I oversimplified. I mostly mean that much of the basis of his ideas that aren’t controversial here aren’t controversial elsewhere either, they just aren’t seen as his ideas elsewhere. This all makes it seem like Eliezer is more of a figurehead than I feel he actually is.