Everyone I can think of who isn't an AI researcher or LW regular who's read it has immediately thought "that's ridiculous. You're seriously concerned about this as a likely consequence?"
You could make a similar comment about cryonics. "Everyone I can think of who isn't a cryonics project member or LW regular who's read [hypothetical cryonics proposal] has immediately thought "that's ridiculous. You're seriously considering this possibility?". "People think it's ridiculous" is not always a good argument against it.
Consider that whoever made the decision probably made it according to consequentialist ethics; the consequences of people taking the idea seriously would be worse than the consequences of censorship. As many consequentialist decisions tend to, it failed to take into account the full consequences of breaking with deontological ethics ("no censorship" is a pretty strong injunction). But LessWrong is maybe the one place on the internet you could expect not to suffer for breaking from deontological ethics.
This does not make SIAI look more credible, but less because it looks strange.
Again, strange from a deontologist's perspective. If you're a deontologist, okay, your objection to the practice has been noted.
The perfect Bayesian consequentialist, however, would look at the decision, estimate the chances of the decision-maker being irrational (their credibility), and promptly revise their probability estimate of 'bad idea is actually dangerous' upwards, enough to approve of censorship. Nothing strange there. You appear to be downgrading SIAI's credibility because it takes an idea seriously that you don't - I don't think you have enough evidence to conclude that they are reasoning imperfectly.
The perfect Bayesian consequentialist, however, would look at the decision, estimate the chances of the decision-maker being irrational (their credibility), and promptly revise their probability estimate of 'bad idea is actually dangerous' upwards, enough to approve of censorship.
There are two things going on here, and you're missing the other, important one. When a Bayesian consequentialist sees someone break a rule, they perform two operations- reduce the credibility of the person breaking the rule by the damage done, and increase the probability that...
Ideally, I'd like to save the world. One way to do that involves contributing academic research, which raises the question of what's the most effective way of doing that.
The traditional wisdom says if you want to do research, you should get a job in a university. But for the most part the system seems to be set up so that you first spend a long time working for someone else and research their ideas, after which you can lead your own group, but then most of your time will be spent on applying for grants and other administrative trivia rather than actually researching the interesting stuff. Also, in Finland at least, all professors need to also spend time doing teaching, so that's another time sink.
I suspect I would have more time to actually dedicate on research, and I could get doing it quicker, if I took a part-time job and did the research in my spare time. E.g. the recommended rates for a freelance journalist in Finland would allow me to spend a week each month doing work and three weeks doing research, of course assuming that I can pull off the freelance journalism part.
What (dis)advantages does this have compared to the traditional model?
Some advantages:
Some disadvantages:
EDIT: Note that while I certainly do appreciate comments specific to my situation, I posted this over at LW and not Discussion because I was hoping the discussion would also be useful for others who might be considering an academic path. So feel free to also provide commentary that's US-specific, say.