Do you disagree with the point you are making, or merely with the pro-book/anti-book side where it fits? I think being a devil’s advocate is about the former, not the latter. (There is also the move of steelmanning a flaw, looking for a story that paints it as clearly bad, to counteract the drive to excuse it, which might be closer to what you meant.)
Btw, Scott recently wrote a post about issues with admitting controversial causes in altruism.
Like I said, I’m not sure if I agree with it yet. It’s novel to me, it seems valid (up to empirical data I don’t have yet), but I’m pretty sure I haven’t thought through all its implications yet, or the other theories from its class. That’s why I seek other opinions, particularly if someone has encountered this idea before.
“Devils advocate” was referring to the fact that this is an argument against EA, while I am generally in favor of EA.
Do you disagree with the point you are making, or merely with the pro-book/anti-book side where it fits? I think being a devil’s advocate is about the former, not the latter. (There is also the move of steelmanning a flaw, looking for a story that paints it as clearly bad, to counteract the drive to excuse it, which might be closer to what you meant.)
Btw, Scott recently wrote a post about issues with admitting controversial causes in altruism.
Like I said, I’m not sure if I agree with it yet. It’s novel to me, it seems valid (up to empirical data I don’t have yet), but I’m pretty sure I haven’t thought through all its implications yet, or the other theories from its class. That’s why I seek other opinions, particularly if someone has encountered this idea before.
“Devils advocate” was referring to the fact that this is an argument against EA, while I am generally in favor of EA.