I just don’t have it in me to require public figures suppress harmless fun in their lives because the public will boo them for it. Like sure, more normal clothing choices would improve his reputation among the general public on the margin—but it seems so small of an impact that I am unwilling to endorse a norm that he shouldn’t show up with the fun goggles and hat. If it was a meeting with the president, I’d agree with you; but something like this mostly doesn’t matter.
For the same reason, I wouldn’t want a norm requiring that a gay person hide their sexuality for public approval. Nor would I want a norm that he shouldn’t spend some of his money purely for his own selfish benefit, instead of only making himself happy to the extent that it increases his productivity.
You do not have to be a saint, if you don’t want to. I know I would find it sad to not get to wear cool clothing, especially if I was >40 years old, tired, and thought that the world was probably going to end in my lifetime.
Can we really not allow indulgences on the scale of weird clothing at an unimportant, unserious debate?
The debate itself may have been a bad decision. It sounds like it wasn’t worth the money even on pure hedonics grounds for him. On the PR side, it mostly seems to not have much impact, given that currently the video only has 17k views on YouTube.
Sure, maybe on Dath Ilan people don’t really care about how people dress, but these norms certainly exist in our world, and it is probably not worth challenging them when far greater issues exist. Sure, you may not personally care about outfit choices, but there is a reason most public figures that rely on public approval (politicians, lawyers, etc) dress in formal attire. Dressing like a steam-punk villain will make general audiences less willing to listen to you.
Lol at the comparison to sexuality. Eliezer Yudkowsky has worn normal clothes in the past, it’s not that big a deal to just conform to societal norms in this case (and clothing preferences are not nearly as intrinsic/immutable as sexual ones).
I have no problem with Yudkowsky earning money or spending money for persona pleasure, but the issue is he is doing so while making his views seem fringe by dressing like a cosplayer. It doesn’t matter that it is on an ”unimportant, unserious debate” it’s a video released to the general public that others can reference to when trying to make the case that Eliezer Yudkowsky is an unqualified grifter.
You make the point about not having to be a saint, but 1.) I think it’s general good to offer constructive criticism to people (even if they are close to being a “saint”). Just because an element of your behavior doesn’t immediately pose risk to yourself or others doesn’t mean we shouldn’t criticize it, especially if the problem is relatively simple and easy to fix 2.) this is not a referendum on Eliezer Yudkowsky as a person, it is a referendum on Eliezer Yudkowsky as a spokesperson for AI safety. If it turned out that Eliezer Yudkowsmy dressed like this at home, I would find it a bit wierd but wouldn’t’ write a post about it.
I just don’t have it in me to require public figures suppress harmless fun in their lives because the public will boo them for it. Like sure, more normal clothing choices would improve his reputation among the general public on the margin—but it seems so small of an impact that I am unwilling to endorse a norm that he shouldn’t show up with the fun goggles and hat. If it was a meeting with the president, I’d agree with you; but something like this mostly doesn’t matter.
For the same reason, I wouldn’t want a norm requiring that a gay person hide their sexuality for public approval. Nor would I want a norm that he shouldn’t spend some of his money purely for his own selfish benefit, instead of only making himself happy to the extent that it increases his productivity.
You do not have to be a saint, if you don’t want to. I know I would find it sad to not get to wear cool clothing, especially if I was >40 years old, tired, and thought that the world was probably going to end in my lifetime.
Can we really not allow indulgences on the scale of weird clothing at an unimportant, unserious debate?
The debate itself may have been a bad decision. It sounds like it wasn’t worth the money even on pure hedonics grounds for him. On the PR side, it mostly seems to not have much impact, given that currently the video only has 17k views on YouTube.
Sure, maybe on Dath Ilan people don’t really care about how people dress, but these norms certainly exist in our world, and it is probably not worth challenging them when far greater issues exist. Sure, you may not personally care about outfit choices, but there is a reason most public figures that rely on public approval (politicians, lawyers, etc) dress in formal attire. Dressing like a steam-punk villain will make general audiences less willing to listen to you.
Lol at the comparison to sexuality. Eliezer Yudkowsky has worn normal clothes in the past, it’s not that big a deal to just conform to societal norms in this case (and clothing preferences are not nearly as intrinsic/immutable as sexual ones).
I have no problem with Yudkowsky earning money or spending money for persona pleasure, but the issue is he is doing so while making his views seem fringe by dressing like a cosplayer. It doesn’t matter that it is on an ”unimportant, unserious debate” it’s a video released to the general public that others can reference to when trying to make the case that Eliezer Yudkowsky is an unqualified grifter.
You make the point about not having to be a saint, but 1.) I think it’s general good to offer constructive criticism to people (even if they are close to being a “saint”). Just because an element of your behavior doesn’t immediately pose risk to yourself or others doesn’t mean we shouldn’t criticize it, especially if the problem is relatively simple and easy to fix 2.) this is not a referendum on Eliezer Yudkowsky as a person, it is a referendum on Eliezer Yudkowsky as a spokesperson for AI safety. If it turned out that Eliezer Yudkowsmy dressed like this at home, I would find it a bit wierd but wouldn’t’ write a post about it.