The Nick Bostrom fiasco is instructive: never make public apologies to an outrage machine. If Nick had just ignored whoever it was trying to blackmail him, it would have been on them to assert the importance of a twenty-five year old deliberately provocative email, and things might not have ascended to the point of mild drama. When he tried to “get ahead of things” by issuing an apology, he ceded that the email was in fact socially significant despite its age, and that he did in fact have something to apologize for, and so opened himself up to the Standard Replies that the apology is not genuine, he’s secretly evil etc. etc.
Instead, if you are ever put in this situation, just say nothing. Don’t try to defend yourself. Definitely don’t volunteer for a struggle session.
Treat outrage artists like the police. You do not prevent the police from filing charges against you by driving to the station and attempting to “explain yourself” to detectives, or by writing and publishing a letter explaining how sorry you are. At best you will inflate the airtime of the controversy by responding to it, at worst you’ll be creating the controversy in the first place.
Not because all people online are bad, but because Twitter is a “dark forest”. If there are 999 good people and 1 bad person, it’s the bad person who will take your tweet, maybe modify it a little, put it into most outrageous possible context, write an article about why you are the worst person ever, and share it on all social networks. And that’s the lucky case. In the unlucky case, the story will uncritically be accepted by journalists, then added to Wikipedia, you will get fired, and for the rest of your life, random people on the street will keep yelling at you.
Twitter should be legally required to show you this as a warning every time you are making a tweet.
EDIT:
This was written before I learned the details. Now the analogy with not talking to police seems even better: indeed, every word you say is a potential new incriminating evidence against you (and if it is not, it will simply be ignored), and the worst outcome is that the new evidence will hurt you in a way the old evidence could not.
Question: If I get in trouble with the police, I know I need to find a lawyer. If I get in trouble with an internet mob, and I understand the need to defer to a more experienced person’s advice to navigate the minefield, and I am willing to pay them, whose services exactly should I find? Is there an obvious answer, such as “lawyer” in case of legal trouble?
The professional class would be PR people. A vaguely remember reading that the firm that handled Biden’s sexual assault allegations also did good work for other people.
Question: If I get in trouble with the police, I know I need to find a lawyer. If I get in trouble with an internet mob, and I understand the need to defer to a more experienced person’s advice to navigate the minefield, and I am willing to pay them, whose services exactly should I find? Is there an obvious answer, such as “lawyer” in case of legal trouble?
I actually thought of this extension and cut it from the original post, but, if you need to defend yourself and have simple exonerating evidence, one way might be to find a friend willing to state your reservations without referring to the fact that they’ve spoken to you or you’re feeding them information. This way they can present your side of the story without giving it extra fuel, lending significance to the charges, or directly quoting you with statements you can be hanged for by the Twitter mob.
However, this may also just extend the half life of the controversy.
Does this generalize to “just ignore Twitter (and other blathering by “the masses”) for most things”? Outside of a pretty small group, I haven’t heard much handwringing, condemnation nor defense of Bostrom’s old messages or his recent apology.
I personally think that personal honor is better supported by a thoughtful apology when something is brought to one’s attention, than by simply ignoring it. Don’t engage in a back-and-forth, and don’t expect the apology to convince the more vocal part of the ’verse. But do be honest and forthright with yourself and those who you respect enough to value their opinions.
From what I can tell (and I haven’t looked that deeply, as I don’t particularly care), Professor Bostrom has done this pretty well, and I don’t expect him to suffer much long-term harm from his early mistakes.
IMO I disagree with the implication that Nick Bostrom shouldn’t have apologized, since for once the Twitter machine is actually right to criticize the apology.
From titotal’s post on why Bostrom’s apology isn’t good, there are several tests that he failed at:
Okay, let’s go over the rules for an apology to be genuine and sincere. I’ll take them from here.
Acknowledge the offense.
Explain what happened.
Express remorse.
Offer to make amends.
Notably missing from this list is step 5: Go off on an unrelated tangent about eugenics.
Disclaimer: This is a rare action for me to take, and just because I think the Twitter sphere is somewhat right does not equal that any of their conclusions are automatically right, nor does this mean I will care much about what Twitter thinks.
The Nick Bostrom fiasco is instructive: never make public apologies to an outrage machine. If Nick had just ignored whoever it was trying to blackmail him, it would have been on them to assert the importance of a twenty-five year old deliberately provocative email, and things might not have ascended to the point of mild drama. When he tried to “get ahead of things” by issuing an apology, he ceded that the email was in fact socially significant despite its age, and that he did in fact have something to apologize for, and so opened himself up to the Standard Replies that the apology is not genuine, he’s secretly evil etc. etc.
Instead, if you are ever put in this situation, just say nothing. Don’t try to defend yourself. Definitely don’t volunteer for a struggle session.
Treat outrage artists like the police. You do not prevent the police from filing charges against you by driving to the station and attempting to “explain yourself” to detectives, or by writing and publishing a letter explaining how sorry you are. At best you will inflate the airtime of the controversy by responding to it, at worst you’ll be creating the controversy in the first place.
Do not assume good faith on Twitter. Ever.
Not because all people online are bad, but because Twitter is a “dark forest”. If there are 999 good people and 1 bad person, it’s the bad person who will take your tweet, maybe modify it a little, put it into most outrageous possible context, write an article about why you are the worst person ever, and share it on all social networks. And that’s the lucky case. In the unlucky case, the story will uncritically be accepted by journalists, then added to Wikipedia, you will get fired, and for the rest of your life, random people on the street will keep yelling at you.
Twitter should be legally required to show you this as a warning every time you are making a tweet.
EDIT:
This was written before I learned the details. Now the analogy with not talking to police seems even better: indeed, every word you say is a potential new incriminating evidence against you (and if it is not, it will simply be ignored), and the worst outcome is that the new evidence will hurt you in a way the old evidence could not.
Question: If I get in trouble with the police, I know I need to find a lawyer. If I get in trouble with an internet mob, and I understand the need to defer to a more experienced person’s advice to navigate the minefield, and I am willing to pay them, whose services exactly should I find? Is there an obvious answer, such as “lawyer” in case of legal trouble?
The professional class would be PR people. A vaguely remember reading that the firm that handled Biden’s sexual assault allegations also did good work for other people.
I actually thought of this extension and cut it from the original post, but, if you need to defend yourself and have simple exonerating evidence, one way might be to find a friend willing to state your reservations without referring to the fact that they’ve spoken to you or you’re feeding them information. This way they can present your side of the story without giving it extra fuel, lending significance to the charges, or directly quoting you with statements you can be hanged for by the Twitter mob.
However, this may also just extend the half life of the controversy.
Very strongly agree and endorse this message.
I’m not above giving into incentives, and if the incentives are such that you should not apologise for wrongdoing, then so be it.
Does this generalize to “just ignore Twitter (and other blathering by “the masses”) for most things”? Outside of a pretty small group, I haven’t heard much handwringing, condemnation nor defense of Bostrom’s old messages or his recent apology.
I personally think that personal honor is better supported by a thoughtful apology when something is brought to one’s attention, than by simply ignoring it. Don’t engage in a back-and-forth, and don’t expect the apology to convince the more vocal part of the ’verse. But do be honest and forthright with yourself and those who you respect enough to value their opinions.
From what I can tell (and I haven’t looked that deeply, as I don’t particularly care), Professor Bostrom has done this pretty well, and I don’t expect him to suffer much long-term harm from his early mistakes.
IMO I disagree with the implication that Nick Bostrom shouldn’t have apologized, since for once the Twitter machine is actually right to criticize the apology.
From titotal’s post on why Bostrom’s apology isn’t good, there are several tests that he failed at:
Link below:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/KB8XPfh7dJ9uJaaDs/does-ea-understand-how-to-apologize-for-things
Disclaimer: This is a rare action for me to take, and just because I think the Twitter sphere is somewhat right does not equal that any of their conclusions are automatically right, nor does this mean I will care much about what Twitter thinks.