<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On Oct 18, 2005, at 6:30 PM, Russell Wallace wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">On 10/19/05, <B class="gmail_sendername">Samantha Atkins</B> <<A href="mailto:sjatkins@mac.com">sjatkins@mac.com</A>> wrote:<DIV><SPAN class="gmail_quote"></SPAN><BLOCKQUOTE class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> The trouble is that you are very short on the how this can be accomplished.</BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR> I did say, did I not, that an antisocial and uncharismatic guy who sits in a basement writing code is not the person to draw up marketing plans? :)<BR> <BR></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>Ah. Good point. :-)</DIV><DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV><DIV> I'm rather long, however, on how to at least stop actively damaging the chances of this being accomplished. And that's what this boils down to: if you (plural) can't help, at least stop doing harm.<BR> <BR></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>But exactly what is and is not harm? Who decides? Who has your trust? </DIV><DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV><DIV> This is where we really need Eliezer Yudkowsky to write one of his posts that summarize the matter with clarity that nobody else could accomplish with a thousand times as many words. I'm no Eliezer, but I'll try:<BR> <BR> Your (plural) instincts are telling you, someone is saying things that might be in support of a position you oppose, so come up with heartfelt arguments as to why this is wrong. They're telling you that because that was the right survival strategy for your genes in a hunter-gatherer tribe of 200 people where being a great-grandparent meant getting to the top of the pecking order. In modern times, they're a deadly liability. If you're a rationalist, please try to see through this and turn off the switch long enough to realize that arguments about why it's okay to publish this or that _don't matter_. Then ask someone who knows about marketing and politics (not me, please, I'd rather bow out of this discussion at this stage anyway) the best way to move forward.<BR></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>Academic freedom does matter. Self-policing generally to mollify others who largely don't understand the problem space and have many unfounded or overblown fears and opinions is suicidal. No, I do not think I am simply engaging in some kind of evolved pecking order game when I bring up the point. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Thanks awfully for the bananas though.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>- samantha</DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></BODY></HTML>