I am concerned about a fairly mild anti-CFAR comment getting this much criticism. I do think “part of the reason I haven’t adopted double crux is that I don’t trust CFAR” is a relevant comment. Even if it wasn’t, I worry that motivated reasoning will cause people to be far more upset about criticism of respected rationalist organizations than they are of other institutions, and for this to lead to a dynamic where people are quiet about their feelings about CFAR for fear of being dogpiled. This seems harmful both as a community norm and to CFAR itself.
To be clear, I am not complaining about SA’s comment because it’s anti-CFAR. I’m pretty skeptical about CFAR myself; I wouldn’t go as far as SA does, but the fact that CFAR recommends something doesn’t seem to me very good evidence for it.
I’m complaining about SA’s comment because it seems to me irrelevant, un-called-for, and likely to annoy or upset some readers (of whom I am not one) with no offsetting benefit to make it worth while.
But I very much hope that no one feels unable to criticize CFAR or MIRI or any other entity for fear of being dogpiled, and (as one alleged dog in the alleged pile) promise that if I see such dogpiling happening to someone for relevant criticism then I will be right there on the barricades defending them.
I am concerned about a fairly mild anti-CFAR comment getting this much criticism. I do think “part of the reason I haven’t adopted double crux is that I don’t trust CFAR” is a relevant comment. Even if it wasn’t, I worry that motivated reasoning will cause people to be far more upset about criticism of respected rationalist organizations than they are of other institutions, and for this to lead to a dynamic where people are quiet about their feelings about CFAR for fear of being dogpiled. This seems harmful both as a community norm and to CFAR itself.
To be clear, I am not complaining about SA’s comment because it’s anti-CFAR. I’m pretty skeptical about CFAR myself; I wouldn’t go as far as SA does, but the fact that CFAR recommends something doesn’t seem to me very good evidence for it.
I’m complaining about SA’s comment because it seems to me irrelevant, un-called-for, and likely to annoy or upset some readers (of whom I am not one) with no offsetting benefit to make it worth while.
But I very much hope that no one feels unable to criticize CFAR or MIRI or any other entity for fear of being dogpiled, and (as one alleged dog in the alleged pile) promise that if I see such dogpiling happening to someone for relevant criticism then I will be right there on the barricades defending them.
I’m actually confused that you think my comment was bad—I was thinking the same thing you ended up saying.
I’m confused too. I don’t think your comment was bad, though as I wrote I’m not sure I could quite endorse the exact complaint it originally made.