If we agree modest folk could criticize the Bank of Japan out of deference to Nobel laureates
Point of clarification: Eliezer was not, in fact, deferring to Nobel laureates who were critical of Japan’s monetary policy, or even aware that such laureates existed at the time. He was specifically deferring to econ bloggers who he happened to follow. Nor should we consider it an act of modesty (“not taking the inside view”) to side with one set of experts over another; to do so is to call the opposing side wrong, after all.
Eliezer was not, in fact, deferring to Nobel laureates who were critical of Japan’s monetary policy, or even aware that such laureates existed at the time. He was specifically deferring to econ bloggers who he happened to follow.
I completely agree—this is what I was claiming in my previous comment. My point was that Finney’s (hypothetical) decision to defer to Nobel laureates and Eliezer’s decision to defer to econ bloggers are similar in the relevant respects, so it’s unclear why one decision would be an instance of epistemic modesty while the other an instance of epistemic immodesty.
Point of clarification: Eliezer was not, in fact, deferring to Nobel laureates who were critical of Japan’s monetary policy, or even aware that such laureates existed at the time. He was specifically deferring to econ bloggers who he happened to follow. Nor should we consider it an act of modesty (“not taking the inside view”) to side with one set of experts over another; to do so is to call the opposing side wrong, after all.
I completely agree—this is what I was claiming in my previous comment. My point was that Finney’s (hypothetical) decision to defer to Nobel laureates and Eliezer’s decision to defer to econ bloggers are similar in the relevant respects, so it’s unclear why one decision would be an instance of epistemic modesty while the other an instance of epistemic immodesty.