The Gell-Mann Amnesia effect seems pretty operative, given the first name on the relevant NYT article is the same guy who did some pretty bad reporting on Scott Alexander.
If you don’t think the latter was a reliable summary of Scott’s blog, there’s not much reason to think that the former is a reliable summary of the OpenAI situation.
I’d say that, on conflict theory terms, NYT adequately described Scott. They correctly identified him as a contrarian willing to entertain, and maybe even hold, taboo opinions, and to have polite interactions with out-and-out witches. Of course, we may think it deplorable that the ‘newspaper of record’ considers such people deserving to be publicly named and shamed, but they provided reasonably accurate information to those sharing this point of view.
The Gell-Mann Amnesia effect seems pretty operative, given the first name on the relevant NYT article is the same guy who did some pretty bad reporting on Scott Alexander.
If you don’t think the latter was a reliable summary of Scott’s blog, there’s not much reason to think that the former is a reliable summary of the OpenAI situation.
I’d say that, on conflict theory terms, NYT adequately described Scott. They correctly identified him as a contrarian willing to entertain, and maybe even hold, taboo opinions, and to have polite interactions with out-and-out witches. Of course, we may think it deplorable that the ‘newspaper of record’ considers such people deserving to be publicly named and shamed, but they provided reasonably accurate information to those sharing this point of view.