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Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on The 9/11 Meta-Truther Conspiracy Theory - Less Wrong
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Eliezer kudos for you to touch such a hot iron! There is at least one professor in the US who lost his tenure because of his contrarian views in regard to 911.
I hope you're congratulating me for touching the hot iron rather than picking it up, metaphorically speaking?
I don't get the difference, sorry I'm not a native english speaker. I googled "hot iron" but didn't find information to clarify it.
Getting associated with a low prestige topic can lower someone's status even if they are on the side that isn't stupid. (See OvercomingBias.)
If picking up a hot iron can be considered to be advocating a stigmatised contrarian position then even just mentioning the topic without advocating for it could perhaps be considered 'touching the hot iron rather than picking it up'. (I think Eliezer made this up on the spot by expanding on the metaphor that you provided.)
Correct.
If this is the case, yes I don't think that he picked it up. He just touched it in a clever way making people think about it. I suppose he is in the know but doesn't want to be open about it and it's the right thing to do in his position, living in the US. Btw, AFAIK this metaphor is widely used, no?
Don't know. I don't think I have heard it before but it sounds like the kind of thing that is a popular metaphor.
It seems that I unknowingly got influenced by my german background where this metaphor is quite common.