You can always criticize an outside view by saying that it is just a surface similarity, and that a proper inside view analysis will be superior because it takes more information into account. And yet we know that most inside view analyses are not in fact better than outside views (or at least, so claim the social scientists), because this methodology is such an invitation to bias. Now it may be the case that for Eliezer, inside view analysis works. Maybe he can overcome the biases which afflict most such efforts. My concern is that others here may be tempted to follow his example, unsuccessfully.
You can always criticize an outside view by saying that it is just a surface similarity, and that a proper inside view analysis will be superior because it takes more information into account. And yet we know that most inside view analyses are not in fact better than outside views (or at least, so claim the social scientists), because this methodology is such an invitation to bias. Now it may be the case that for Eliezer, inside view analysis works. Maybe he can overcome the biases which afflict most such efforts. My concern is that others here may be tempted to follow his example, unsuccessfully.