I think Rohin is (correctly IMO) noticing that, while often some thoughtful pieces succeed at talking about the doomer/optimist stuff in a way thats not-too-tribal and helps people think, it’s just very common for it to also affect the way people talk and reason.
Like, it’s good IMO that that Paul piece got pretty upvoted, but, the way that many people related to Eliezer and Paul as sort of two monkey chieftains with narratives to rally around, more than just “here are some abstract ideas about what makes alignment hard or easy”, is telling. (The evidence for this is subtle enough I’m not going to try to argue it right now, but I think it’s a very real thing. My post here today is definitely part of this pattern. I don’t know exactly how I could have written it without doing so, but there’s something tragic about it)
I think Rohin is (correctly IMO) noticing that, while often some thoughtful pieces succeed at talking about the doomer/optimist stuff in a way thats not-too-tribal and helps people think, it’s just very common for it to also affect the way people talk and reason.
Like, it’s good IMO that that Paul piece got pretty upvoted, but, the way that many people related to Eliezer and Paul as sort of two monkey chieftains with narratives to rally around, more than just “here are some abstract ideas about what makes alignment hard or easy”, is telling. (The evidence for this is subtle enough I’m not going to try to argue it right now, but I think it’s a very real thing. My post here today is definitely part of this pattern. I don’t know exactly how I could have written it without doing so, but there’s something tragic about it)