Third, given that the authors said they realized it might be bad, this should never have been posted without discussion with someone external.
For example…?
Suppose I’m a Less Wrong member who sometimes makes posts. Suppose I have some thoughts on this whole virus thing and I want to write down those thoughts and post them on Less Wrong.
You’re suggesting that after I write down what I think, but before I publish the post, I should consult with “someone external”.
But with whom? Are you proposing some general guideline for how to determine when a post should go through such consultation, and how to determine with whom to consult, and how to consult with them? If so, please do detail this process. I, for one, haven’t the foggiest idea how I would, in the general case, discern when a to-be-published post of mine needs to be vetted by some external agent, and how to figure out who that should be, etc.
This whole business of having people vet our posts seems like it’s easy to propose in retrospect as a purported unsatisfied criterion of posting a given post, but not so easy to satisfy in prospect. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding you. In any case, I should like to read your thoughts on the aforesaid guidelines.
(By the way, what assurances of vetting would satisfy you? Suppose the OP had contained a note: “This post has been vetted by X.”. And suppose otherwise the post were unchanged. For what value(s) of X would you now have no quarrel with the post?)
I’m proposing that literally anyone in the EA biosecurity world would have been a good place to start. Almost any of them would either have a response, or have a much better idea of who to ask. Just like for hey, I have an idea for how someone could misuse AI, running the potentially dangerous ideas by almost anyone in AI safety is enough for people to say either “I really wouldn’t worry,” or “maybe ask person Y,” or “Holy shit, no.”
As for what value of X, I’d be happy if basically anyone that had done work in biosecurity was asked. Anyone who signed up for / attended the Catalyst summit, for example. Or anyone who has posted about biosecurity on the EA forum. I know most of them, and on the whole I trust their judgement. Maybe I’m wrong, but in this case, I think most of their judgement would be to say either that it needs to be edited, or that it should probably be checked with someone at Open Phil or FHI before posting, since it’s potentially a bad idea.
For example…?
Suppose I’m a Less Wrong member who sometimes makes posts. Suppose I have some thoughts on this whole virus thing and I want to write down those thoughts and post them on Less Wrong.
You’re suggesting that after I write down what I think, but before I publish the post, I should consult with “someone external”.
But with whom? Are you proposing some general guideline for how to determine when a post should go through such consultation, and how to determine with whom to consult, and how to consult with them? If so, please do detail this process. I, for one, haven’t the foggiest idea how I would, in the general case, discern when a to-be-published post of mine needs to be vetted by some external agent, and how to figure out who that should be, etc.
This whole business of having people vet our posts seems like it’s easy to propose in retrospect as a purported unsatisfied criterion of posting a given post, but not so easy to satisfy in prospect. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding you. In any case, I should like to read your thoughts on the aforesaid guidelines.
(By the way, what assurances of vetting would satisfy you? Suppose the OP had contained a note: “This post has been vetted by X.”. And suppose otherwise the post were unchanged. For what value(s) of X would you now have no quarrel with the post?)
I’m proposing that literally anyone in the EA biosecurity world would have been a good place to start. Almost any of them would either have a response, or have a much better idea of who to ask. Just like for hey, I have an idea for how someone could misuse AI, running the potentially dangerous ideas by almost anyone in AI safety is enough for people to say either “I really wouldn’t worry,” or “maybe ask person Y,” or “Holy shit, no.”
As for what value of X, I’d be happy if basically anyone that had done work in biosecurity was asked. Anyone who signed up for / attended the Catalyst summit, for example. Or anyone who has posted about biosecurity on the EA forum. I know most of them, and on the whole I trust their judgement. Maybe I’m wrong, but in this case, I think most of their judgement would be to say either that it needs to be edited, or that it should probably be checked with someone at Open Phil or FHI before posting, since it’s potentially a bad idea.