I agree that Eliezer shouldn’t have to respond to everything, and that he is well engaged with his critics. I would in fact have preferred it if he had simply said nothing at all, in this particular case. Probably, deep down, I prefer that for some complicated social reasons but I don’t think they’re antisocial reasons and have more to do with the (fixable) rudeness inherent in the way he replied.
I also agree that the comment came across as rude. I mostly give Eliezer a pass for this kind of rudeness because he’s wound up in the genuinely awkward position of being a well-known intellectual figure (at least in these circles), which creates a natural asymmetry between him and (most of) his critics.
I’m open to being convinced that I’m making a mistake here, but at present my view is that comments primarily concerning how Eliezer’s response tugs at the social fabric (including the upthread reply from iceman) are generally unproductive.
(Quentin, to his credit, responded by directly answering Eliezer’s question, and indeed the resulting (short) thread seems to have resulted in some clarification. I have a lot more respect for that kind of object-level response, than I do for responses along the lines of iceman’s reply.)
I’m open to being convinced that I’m making a mistake here, but at present my view is that comments primarily concerning how Eliezer’s responses tug at the social fabric (including the original response from iceman) are usually not productive.
That’s reasonable and I generally agree. I’m not sure what to think about Eliezer’s comment atm except that it upsets me when it maybe shouldn’t, and that I also understand the awkward position he’s in. I definitely don’t want to derail the discussion, here.
I agree that Eliezer shouldn’t have to respond to everything, and that he is well engaged with his critics. I would in fact have preferred it if he had simply said nothing at all, in this particular case. Probably, deep down, I prefer that for some complicated social reasons but I don’t think they’re antisocial reasons and have more to do with the (fixable) rudeness inherent in the way he replied.
I also agree that the comment came across as rude. I mostly give Eliezer a pass for this kind of rudeness because he’s wound up in the genuinely awkward position of being a well-known intellectual figure (at least in these circles), which creates a natural asymmetry between him and (most of) his critics.
I’m open to being convinced that I’m making a mistake here, but at present my view is that comments primarily concerning how Eliezer’s response tugs at the social fabric (including the upthread reply from iceman) are generally unproductive.
(Quentin, to his credit, responded by directly answering Eliezer’s question, and indeed the resulting (short) thread seems to have resulted in some clarification. I have a lot more respect for that kind of object-level response, than I do for responses along the lines of iceman’s reply.)
That’s reasonable and I generally agree. I’m not sure what to think about Eliezer’s comment atm except that it upsets me when it maybe shouldn’t, and that I also understand the awkward position he’s in. I definitely don’t want to derail the discussion, here.