Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Am Deleting the Blog

slatestarcodex.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

861–870 of 1001 posts

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#861

Post by Matticus_Rex »

hejgkrorjjfk wrote: post #544
globular-toast wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That Paul Graham essay is fantastic. It really helps me to put into place things that I've been realising over time. For a long time I've had showdead enabled and I always go looking for the buried comments to see what I'm not allowed to say. I suggest everyone does.

From my observations nuclear energy is the holliest cow on HN. Raising any sort of doubt regarding nuclear energy safety will quickly get you downvoted, flagged or banned: Fukushima proved that nuclear energy is not that safe.

I think it's less about "any sort of doubt" and more about the doubts that I actually see put forward, e.g. "Fukushima proved that nuclear energy is not that safe."

I'll downvote that not because it's a doubt about nuclear energy safety, but because it's a pretty bad assertion.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#862

Post by phkahler »

mshron wrote: post #642

I am genuinely baffled how Scott Alexander's post has turned into hundreds and hundreds of comments on cancel culture, as if it was anything near the #1 reason why he'd be in danger if his name was revealed. Being famous is dangerous in every era, doubly so in an era where anybody unhinged basically has access to the same level of information you used to need a private investigator to get. Tim Ferris said it well: "T…

>> Tim Ferris said it well: "The point is this: you don’t need to do anything wrong to get death threats, rape threats, etc. You just need a big enough audience."

And that is why we need to abolish anonymity on the internet and ensure traceability. If people can trace threats and harassment, it either won't happen or can be reported.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#863

Post by JohnBooty »

holtalanm wrote: post #585
tinyhouse wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just thinking about this now after reading attacks on Yann Lecun on twitter. He's a prominent AI figure (head of facebook research and turing award recipient). My interpretation - he was saying that bias in AI is mostly a problem of data. He didn't say there's no bias or that you can't solve bias with modeling. Just that the model itself isn't what causing the bias. One woman researcher started attacking him an…

It has been this way for a while. Outrage/cancel culture is an absolute pox upon our population that really needs to stop.

It reminds me of the (nearly cliche, but timeless) quote from MLK about riots:

    "I think that we’ve got to see that a riot is the 
    language of the unheard"
I don't think anybody, even "cancellers," think it's a remotely ideal solution. But when groups go unheard, feel a system is unjust, and feel unable to change the system they understandably seek to go outside the system.

Please note that I have specifically used the term "understandably" above as opposed to, say, "justly." You may feel a particular instance is or isn't just, but even if one vehemently disagrees with the practice it is typically understandable.

Consider that "cancelling" is often invoked in response to acts (sexual assault, racism) that have been regarded as wrong and/or illegal for millennia. And yet, those acts persist. Clearly the current system doesn't do enough to prevent them. So folks feel the need to go outside the system. "Cancel culture" is best understood as a symptom and not the problem.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#864

Post by groby_b »

holtalanm wrote: post #585
tinyhouse wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just thinking about this now after reading attacks on Yann Lecun on twitter. He's a prominent AI figure (head of facebook research and turing award recipient). My interpretation - he was saying that bias in AI is mostly a problem of data. He didn't say there's no bias or that you can't solve bias with modeling. Just that the model itself isn't what causing the bias. One woman researcher started attacking him an…

It has been this way for a while. Outrage/cancel culture is an absolute pox upon our population that really needs to stop.

Yes.

However, it cannot stop as long as a large segment of the people in power do with abandon whatever they feel like, without any repercussion.

This is the only way it is possible for many people to get anything remotely resembling justice (although often it's revenge). As long as we don't fundamentally address inequality and deeply unjust systems, I don't think it will stop.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#865

Post by dumbfoundded »

phkahler wrote: post #862
mshron wrote: post #642

I am genuinely baffled how Scott Alexander's post has turned into hundreds and hundreds of comments on cancel culture, as if it was anything near the #1 reason why he'd be in danger if his name was revealed. Being famous is dangerous in every era, doubly so in an era where anybody unhinged basically has access to the same level of information you used to need a private investigator to get. Tim Ferris said it well: "T…

>> Tim Ferris said it well: "The point is this: you don’t need to do anything wrong to get death threats, rape threats, etc. You just need a big enough audience." And that is why we need to abolish anonymity on the internet and ensure traceability. If people can trace threats and harassment, it either won't happen or can be reported.

That's a lot of trust in the government. It's also the exact opposite of what the whole blog post is about, preserving anonymity.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#866

Post by DagAgren »

smsm42 wrote: post #847
mshron wrote: post #642

I am genuinely baffled how Scott Alexander's post has turned into hundreds and hundreds of comments on cancel culture, as if it was anything near the #1 reason why he'd be in danger if his name was revealed. Being famous is dangerous in every era, doubly so in an era where anybody unhinged basically has access to the same level of information you used to need a private investigator to get. Tim Ferris said it well: "T…

Scott has been harassed by cancellers for years. It's a well-documented history, which was a serious issue for him and led to banning culture war topics in SSC-affiliated reddit section. There are still people and AFAIK organized communities on Reddit that target him. There were calls to his employers to get him fired and to friends to get them socially shunned. Now imagine how much more of this one would get if thei…

It should be noted here that "culture war topics" that are banned means literal white supremacists, nazis and their ilk.

You are acting as if it is a great injustice done to the man that he was forced to do the absolute bare minimum to stop giving nazis a forum.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#867

Post by mooseburger »

nojs wrote: post #438
gringoDan wrote: post #394

Reading this made me think of two essays I've recently revisited. 1. The Sound of Silence, by Jessica Livingston Three years ago she argued that the smartest people are silencing themselves because the downside risk of being attacked for (misinterpretations of) their opinions are too high. People are wary of sharing useful information outside of trusted circles, which serves to consolidate power with insiders – those…

Where can one go to learn these controversial truths? I would love to see a list of these facts that apparently only insiders can talk about. Are they literally so confronting/offensive that they don’t exist on the internet?

https://humanvarieties.org

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#868

Post by throwaway894345 »

kps wrote: post #859
throwaway894345 wrote: post #855

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One wonders what criteria the Times must be using to determine that it's worth putting Scott at credible risk for further harassment but not women gamers. Is the Times really more sympathetic to gamers than psychiatrists or bloggers? That seems like an unlikely policy, but what else could explain it? I'm stumped.

> what else could explain it? I'm stumped. That's irony, right? It's hard to tell these days.

The only alternative I can imagine is so uncharitable and goes against everything an institution as famously progressive as the Times stands for that I dare not utter its name.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#869

Post by eeereerews »

johan_larson wrote: post #593
syshum wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the biggest problems in modern society is the lack of respect for privacy and anonymous speech. anonymous speech has been a cornerstone of the advancement of civilization many times through out history including playing a critical role in the formation of the United States as well as the US Constitution Your belief that a person should be disallowed anonymity simply because they created a popular blog is crazy…

Anonymity is not some sort of natural right. For most of our existence as a species, we lived in small groups where you quite naturally knew everyone you dealt with. True strangers were rare, and quite rightly regarded with a certain suspicion. Anonymity only became possible when we started living in groups large enough that you might have to deal with people you hadn't met before, because there were just too many pe…

Writing, as opposed to speaking, by its nature conveys a degree of anonymity. Historically, anonymous writers are very common.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#870

Post by zozbot234 »

DagAgren wrote: post #866
smsm42 wrote: post #847

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scott has been harassed by cancellers for years. It's a well-documented history, which was a serious issue for him and led to banning culture war topics in SSC-affiliated reddit section. There are still people and AFAIK organized communities on Reddit that target him. There were calls to his employers to get him fired and to friends to get them socially shunned. Now imagine how much more of this one would get if thei…

It should be noted here that "culture war topics" that are banned means literal white supremacists, nazis and their ilk. You are acting as if it is a great injustice done to the man that he was forced to do the absolute bare minimum to stop giving nazis a forum.

It does not. Anything that's obviously politicized in a way that relates to the culture wars (including "Blue Tribe vs. Red Tribe" topics) is inappropriate outside CW-specific spaces. And obvious calls to harassment, violence, blatant bigotry etc. have always been off-limits altogether.
Post reply on HN