The concept of “not an argument” seems useful; “you’re rationalizing” isn’t an argument (unless it has evidence accompanying it). (This handles point 1)
I don’t really believe in tabooing discussion of mental states on the basis that they’re private, that seems like being intentionally stupid and blind, and puts a (low) ceiling on how much sense can be made of the world. (Truth is entangled!) Of course it can derail discussions but again, “not an argument”. (Eliezer’s post says it’s “dangerous” without elaborating, that’s basically giving a command rather than a model, which I’m suspicious of)
There’s a legitimate concern about blame/scapegoating but things can be worded to avoid that. (I think Wei did a good job here, noting that the intention is probably subconscious)
With someone like Gleb it’s useful to be able to point out to at least some people (possibly including him) that he’s doing stupid/harmful actions repeatedly in a pattern that suggests optimization. So people can build a model of what’s going on (which HAS to include mental states, since they’re a causally very important part of the universe!) and take appropriate action. If you can’t talk about adversarial optimization pressures you’re probably owned by them (and being owned by them would lead to not feeling safe talking about them).
The concept of “not an argument” seems useful; “you’re rationalizing” isn’t an argument (unless it has evidence accompanying it). (This handles point 1)
I don’t really believe in tabooing discussion of mental states on the basis that they’re private, that seems like being intentionally stupid and blind, and puts a (low) ceiling on how much sense can be made of the world. (Truth is entangled!) Of course it can derail discussions but again, “not an argument”. (Eliezer’s post says it’s “dangerous” without elaborating, that’s basically giving a command rather than a model, which I’m suspicious of)
There’s a legitimate concern about blame/scapegoating but things can be worded to avoid that. (I think Wei did a good job here, noting that the intention is probably subconscious)
With someone like Gleb it’s useful to be able to point out to at least some people (possibly including him) that he’s doing stupid/harmful actions repeatedly in a pattern that suggests optimization. So people can build a model of what’s going on (which HAS to include mental states, since they’re a causally very important part of the universe!) and take appropriate action. If you can’t talk about adversarial optimization pressures you’re probably owned by them (and being owned by them would lead to not feeling safe talking about them).