I think there are two different things: How much sense something makes in theory; and how do you respond to it psychologically. It seems that some people’s “taking ideas seriously” package includes compulsive thinking about things you have not solved yet in theory. As if the only way to make peace with something psychologically is to have a perfectly logical answer, with counter-counter arguments for each possible counter-argument.
But in fact there are many other possible psychological responses, such as not giving a fuck.
I am not opposed to solving theoretical problems, but it seems unlikely to me that I would be able to say something that wasn’t already said many times before. (Okay, one possible approach would be to tell you an infohazard even worse than Roko’s basilisk; that might take your attention away from it. But that would be unkind, and probably would just make you spiral about the new thing instead; or maybe both of them.)
To stop spiraling about anything, you need to realize that there is a gap between the thing you worry about and your response to the thing. You habitually choose one type of response, but it is perfectly possible to choose another.
I think there are two different things: How much sense something makes in theory; and how do you respond to it psychologically. It seems that some people’s “taking ideas seriously” package includes compulsive thinking about things you have not solved yet in theory. As if the only way to make peace with something psychologically is to have a perfectly logical answer, with counter-counter arguments for each possible counter-argument.
But in fact there are many other possible psychological responses, such as not giving a fuck.
I am not opposed to solving theoretical problems, but it seems unlikely to me that I would be able to say something that wasn’t already said many times before. (Okay, one possible approach would be to tell you an infohazard even worse than Roko’s basilisk; that might take your attention away from it. But that would be unkind, and probably would just make you spiral about the new thing instead; or maybe both of them.)
To stop spiraling about anything, you need to realize that there is a gap between the thing you worry about and your response to the thing. You habitually choose one type of response, but it is perfectly possible to choose another.