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Statement on New York Times Article

astralcodexten.substack.com

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Re: Statement on New York Times Article

#231

Post by dohnuts1919 »

Aqua wrote: post #213
dandare wrote: post #199

What I find noteworthy about this story is how contentious and weaponized have gender and race become. Out of the four negative claims, one accused Scott of racism and two accused him of of some variant of misogyny. The fourth associated him with some other form of non-pure thinking. I am afraid things will get worse before they get better. I expect the trumpism/fascism wave will provoke unhealthy reaction and furthe…

The whole story background story is extremely alarming. NYT unilaterally decided to reveal someone's real identity against that person's wishes. It should honestly be made illegal but given the current political climate it's doubtful such course of action will ever be considered. This whole situation gives even more credence to the idea that decentralisation is the only way forward for mankind if we intend to preserv…

While I don't think the NYT had a strong reason to reveal Scott's real name, it's absurd to say that newspapers shouldn't "reveal someone's real identity against that person's wishes" in the general case.

As the saying goes, journalism means printing things that certain people don't want published, and everything else is PR. Journalists are supposed to reveal things against the subject's wishes.

As the

Re: Statement on New York Times Article

#232

Post by ZeroGravitas »

wskinner wrote: post #104
astrange wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Perhaps Alexander's ultimate virtue is epistemic humility: His pieces are long, sometimes inconclusive, and accompanied by diverse commentary because he's committed to his own fallibility and lack of omniscience. This is good, but the way he does it in respond to actual criticism[1] can be annoying. It reminds me of a squid spraying ink everywhere before escaping. [1] mostly that they like to make fun of progressiv…

Can you point to any examples that you found particularly annoying?

[flagged]

Re: Statement on New York Times Article

#233

Post by blueflow »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #232
wskinner wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point to any examples that you found particularly annoying?

[flagged]

I dislike that you call people dumb or facist because they made a different judgement than you did, in regards of the "Is Trump worse than campus authoritarianism". Other people are able to feel differently about things.

Re: Statement on New York Times Article

#235

Post by mafuy »

roenxi wrote: post #8

It is a testament to the times that someone can be subject to a NYT hit job and be able to defend themselves so easily.

I kind of disagree. His reaction will reach only a tiny fraction of the readers of the piece, and mostly those who are already in doubt.

In the country I live in, it is usual (I believe voluntarily mandatory) for a newspapers to publish a response by the subject of an article.

Re: Statement on New York Times Article

#236

Post by [deleted] »

dandare wrote: post #199

What I find noteworthy about this story is how contentious and weaponized have gender and race become. Out of the four negative claims, one accused Scott of racism and two accused him of of some variant of misogyny. The fourth associated him with some other form of non-pure thinking. I am afraid things will get worse before they get better. I expect the trumpism/fascism wave will provoke unhealthy reaction and furthe…

[deleted]

Re: Statement on New York Times Article

#237

Post by shaicoleman »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #232
wskinner wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point to any examples that you found particularly annoying?

[flagged]

Plastic recycling is a scam indeed, see previous HN discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24714880

Re: Statement on New York Times Article

#238

Post by geofft »

chmod775 wrote: post #64

The NYT article[1] can hardly be called a hit piece at all, considering how little 'dirt' it actually contains. What is telling however is the lengths to which they went to connect Scott to anything negative at all. Look at how they 'connect' him to Peter Thiel for instance: Scott is a prominent figure in a loose group of "Rationalists". Some rationalists are concerned about AI. Some people who are concerned about AI…

My reading of the article was that it wasn't about Scott at all. It was about the comment sections on Slate Star Codex, the Rationalist community (which the general public knows very little about), and its connection to the centers of power in Silicon Valley.

If you read it as a story about Scott instead of as a story about Silicon Valley, it's less coherent of an article.

Re: Statement on New York Times Article

#240

Post by cedilla »

dandare wrote: post #199

What I find noteworthy about this story is how contentious and weaponized have gender and race become. Out of the four negative claims, one accused Scott of racism and two accused him of of some variant of misogyny. The fourth associated him with some other form of non-pure thinking. I am afraid things will get worse before they get better. I expect the trumpism/fascism wave will provoke unhealthy reaction and furthe…

The NYT abusing these kinds of allegations in a hit piece doesn't say anything about whether such claims can are "contentious and weaponized".

Hit pieces latch on current topics. In the 1950s, the NYT would have had invented ties to communists. Or, if possible, hit pieces often imply corruption or paedophilia. That doesn't necessarily mean that corruption or paedophilia are topics that are "contentious" or related to "pure thinking".

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