This feels like an isolated demand for a thing that I’m not trying to do.
Yes, obviously if I have concrete suggestions that would be great, and likely those would involve looking inside EA at the people and organizations within it and identifying specific points of intervention that could have avoided this problem, or something.
But I’m not trying to identify a solution, I’m trying to identify a problem. A thing where I think EA could have done better. I think it’s ridiculous to suggest either that I can’t do that without also suggesting improvements, or that I can’t do it without looking inside EA.
Maybe you’re not intending to suggest anything like that? But it feels to me like you are, and I find it annoying.
So like, these do seem related, but… I think I feel like you think they’re more closely related than I think they are? Like the kind of thing they’re using as a branching-off point is different from the kind of thing my comment was.
So I’d summarize those posts as saying: “if you’re going to say “let’s _”, it would be nice if you went into more detail about how to _ and what exactly _ looks like”.
But I’m not saying “let’s _”. I’m saying “we might think we can’t _ because [...], but that doesn’t hold because [...]. I currently think _ is possible.” And now I’m similarly being asked to go into detail about how to _ and what exactly _ looks like, and...
Yeah, there’s an implied “let’s _” in my comment, and it’s a perfectly fine question in general, but...
It feels like it’s missing the point of what I said; and in this context, and the way it’s been asked, it feels kind of aggressive and offputting to me.
(I would much less have this reaction, if my second comment in this thread had been my first one. The kind of thing my second comment is, feels much more the kind of thing those posts are reacting to. But I only made my second comment after being asked, and I explicitly said that it was a different question and I didn’t necessarily endorse my answers.)
This feels like an isolated demand for a thing that I’m not trying to do.
Yes, obviously if I have concrete suggestions that would be great, and likely those would involve looking inside EA at the people and organizations within it and identifying specific points of intervention that could have avoided this problem, or something.
But I’m not trying to identify a solution, I’m trying to identify a problem. A thing where I think EA could have done better. I think it’s ridiculous to suggest either that I can’t do that without also suggesting improvements, or that I can’t do it without looking inside EA.
Maybe you’re not intending to suggest anything like that? But it feels to me like you are, and I find it annoying.
Related: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/aHPhh6GjHtTBhe7cX/proposals-for-reform-should-come-with-detailed-stories and https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Pz7RdMRouZ5N5w5eE/ea-should-taboo-ea-should
So like, these do seem related, but… I think I feel like you think they’re more closely related than I think they are? Like the kind of thing they’re using as a branching-off point is different from the kind of thing my comment was.
So I’d summarize those posts as saying: “if you’re going to say “let’s _”, it would be nice if you went into more detail about how to _ and what exactly _ looks like”.
But I’m not saying “let’s _”. I’m saying “we might think we can’t _ because [...], but that doesn’t hold because [...]. I currently think _ is possible.” And now I’m similarly being asked to go into detail about how to _ and what exactly _ looks like, and...
Yeah, there’s an implied “let’s _” in my comment, and it’s a perfectly fine question in general, but...
It feels like it’s missing the point of what I said; and in this context, and the way it’s been asked, it feels kind of aggressive and offputting to me.
(I would much less have this reaction, if my second comment in this thread had been my first one. The kind of thing my second comment is, feels much more the kind of thing those posts are reacting to. But I only made my second comment after being asked, and I explicitly said that it was a different question and I didn’t necessarily endorse my answers.)