There’s a bunch of different options for interacting with a person/group/information source:
Read what they write
Go to talks by them and ask a question
Talk with them on comments on their blogs
Have 1-1 online conversations with them (calls/emails)
Invite them into your home and be friends with them
Naturally there’s a difference between “telling your friend that they should ignore the CDC” and “not letting a CDC leadership staff member into your home for dinner”. I’m much more sympathetic to the latter.
Related: As a somewhat extreme example I’ve thought about in the past in other situations with other people, I think that people who have committed crimes (e.g. theft) could be great and insightful contributors to open research problems, but might belong geographically in jail and be important to not allow into my home. Especially for insightful people with unique perspectives who were intellectually productive I’d want to put in a lot of work to ensure they can bring their great contributions in ways that aren’t open to abuse or likely to leave my friends substantially hurt on some key dimension.
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Thx for your comment. I don’t have a clear sense from your comment what you’re trying to suggest for Michael specifically — I’ve found it quite valuable to read his Twitter, but more than that. Actually, here’s what I suspect you’re saying. I think you’re saying that the following things seem worthwhile to you: have 1-1 convos with Michael, talk to Michael at events, reply to his emails and talk with him online. And then you’re not making an active recommendation about whether to: have Michael over for dinner, have Michael stay at your house, date Michael, live with Michael, lend Michael money, start a business with Michael, etc, and you’re aiming to trust people to figure that out for themselves.
It’s not a great guess, but it’s my best (quick) guess. Thoughts?
There’s a bunch of different options for interacting with a person/group/information source:
Read what they write
Go to talks by them and ask a question
Talk with them on comments on their blogs
Have 1-1 online conversations with them (calls/emails)
Invite them into your home and be friends with them
Naturally there’s a difference between “telling your friend that they should ignore the CDC” and “not letting a CDC leadership staff member into your home for dinner”. I’m much more sympathetic to the latter.
Related: As a somewhat extreme example I’ve thought about in the past in other situations with other people, I think that people who have committed crimes (e.g. theft) could be great and insightful contributors to open research problems, but might belong geographically in jail and be important to not allow into my home. Especially for insightful people with unique perspectives who were intellectually productive I’d want to put in a lot of work to ensure they can bring their great contributions in ways that aren’t open to abuse or likely to leave my friends substantially hurt on some key dimension.
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Thx for your comment. I don’t have a clear sense from your comment what you’re trying to suggest for Michael specifically — I’ve found it quite valuable to read his Twitter, but more than that. Actually, here’s what I suspect you’re saying. I think you’re saying that the following things seem worthwhile to you: have 1-1 convos with Michael, talk to Michael at events, reply to his emails and talk with him online. And then you’re not making an active recommendation about whether to: have Michael over for dinner, have Michael stay at your house, date Michael, live with Michael, lend Michael money, start a business with Michael, etc, and you’re aiming to trust people to figure that out for themselves.
It’s not a great guess, but it’s my best (quick) guess. Thoughts?