Not commenting about the whole conflict here. But I remember being once told by an EA member to better not go to some event with policymakers in the UK because my views sound a little too crazy.
I don’t think that advice is obviously wrong—the costs of being outside are real, and so there are definitely times when staying inside the Overton window is important. Not alienating policymakers seems like a good place to simply not talk about certain things, at least sometimes. (c.f. Eliezer’s Time article being laughed at during the White House press briefing. That worked out fine, Eliezer wasn’t trying to stay in the good graces of policymakers. Someone from CSET writing the same would have been a mistake.)
So it’s further evidence that EAs are sensitive to the questions, but not an example of what I think Rob was criticizing, and as noted, not something I think was the wrong call.
Not commenting about the whole conflict here. But I remember being once told by an EA member to better not go to some event with policymakers in the UK because my views sound a little too crazy.
I don’t think that advice is obviously wrong—the costs of being outside are real, and so there are definitely times when staying inside the Overton window is important. Not alienating policymakers seems like a good place to simply not talk about certain things, at least sometimes. (c.f. Eliezer’s Time article being laughed at during the White House press briefing. That worked out fine, Eliezer wasn’t trying to stay in the good graces of policymakers. Someone from CSET writing the same would have been a mistake.)
So it’s further evidence that EAs are sensitive to the questions, but not an example of what I think Rob was criticizing, and as noted, not something I think was the wrong call.