consider how you might take it if you came across a forum discussion calling your talk misleading and not well-reasoned, without going into any specifics
I would be grateful for the free marketing! (And entertainment—internet randos’ distorted impressions of you are fascinating to read.) Certainly, it would be better for people to discuss the specifics of your work, but it’s a competitive market for attention out there: vague discussion is better than none at all!
there have been cases before where researchers looked at how their work was being discussed on LW, picked up a condescending tone, and decided that LW/AI risk people were not worth engaging with
If I’m interpreting this correctly, this doesn’t seem very consistent with the first paragraph? First, you seem to be saying that it’s unfair to Sussman to make him the target of vague criticism (“consider how you might take it”). But then you seem to saying that it looks bad for “us” (you know, the “AI risk community”, Yudkowski’s robot cult, whatever you want to call it) to be making vague criticisms that will get us written off as cranks (“not worth engaging with”). But I mostly wouldn’t expect both concerns to be operative in the same world—in the possible world where Sussman feels bad about being named and singled out, that means he’s taking “us” seriously enough for our curt dismissal to hurt, but in the possible world where we’re written off as cranks, then being named and singled out doesn’t hurt.
(I’m not very confident in this analysis, but it seems important to practice trying to combat rationalization in social/political thinking??)
But I mostly wouldn’t expect both concerns to be operative in the same world—in the possible world where Sussman feels bad about being named and singled out, that means he’s taking “us” seriously enough for our curt dismissal to hurt, but in the possible world where we’re written off as cranks, then being named and singled out doesn’t hurt.
The world can change as a result of one of the concerns. At first you’re taking someone seriously (or might at least be open to taking them seriously), then they say something hurtful, then you write them off to make it hurt less. Sour grapes.
Also, the reactions of people who are not being directly criticized but who respect the person being criticized are also important. Even if the target of the criticism never saw it, other people in the target’s peer group may also feel disrespected and react in a similar way. (This is not speculation—I’ve seen various computer scientists have this reaction to writings on LW, many times.)
(Note: posted after the parent was retracted.)
I would be grateful for the free marketing! (And entertainment—internet randos’ distorted impressions of you are fascinating to read.) Certainly, it would be better for people to discuss the specifics of your work, but it’s a competitive market for attention out there: vague discussion is better than none at all!
If I’m interpreting this correctly, this doesn’t seem very consistent with the first paragraph? First, you seem to be saying that it’s unfair to Sussman to make him the target of vague criticism (“consider how you might take it”). But then you seem to saying that it looks bad for “us” (you know, the “AI risk community”, Yudkowski’s robot cult, whatever you want to call it) to be making vague criticisms that will get us written off as cranks (“not worth engaging with”). But I mostly wouldn’t expect both concerns to be operative in the same world—in the possible world where Sussman feels bad about being named and singled out, that means he’s taking “us” seriously enough for our curt dismissal to hurt, but in the possible world where we’re written off as cranks, then being named and singled out doesn’t hurt.
(I’m not very confident in this analysis, but it seems important to practice trying to combat rationalization in social/political thinking??)
The world can change as a result of one of the concerns. At first you’re taking someone seriously (or might at least be open to taking them seriously), then they say something hurtful, then you write them off to make it hurt less. Sour grapes.
Also, the reactions of people who are not being directly criticized but who respect the person being criticized are also important. Even if the target of the criticism never saw it, other people in the target’s peer group may also feel disrespected and react in a similar way. (This is not speculation—I’ve seen various computer scientists have this reaction to writings on LW, many times.)