The LessWrong wiki contains a biased and offensive entry on group selection. I edited the wiki page, to append some points representing an opposing view at the end. Eliezer removed my points, leaving only a link at the end. He said he thought my points were wrong, but would not say which points he thought were wrong, or why he thought they were wrong.
Is it reasonable for me to restore my changes over Eliezer's edit, since he is unwilling to give reasons for his edit? What sort of rights or privileges does Eliezer have over LW or LW wiki content?
(Please try not to turn this into a discussion of group selection.)
ADDED: Please go meta, folks. I am not trying to argue about this specific Wiki article. I am not asking for redress. Specifics about this wiki article are irrelevant. I am asking whether this is still a benevolent dictatorship.
The relevant questions are not what the appropriate form of debate is, or anything about this wiki article. The relevant questions are:
- Who owns the domain?
- Who created the Wiki?
- Who owns the code?
- Who pays for the servers?
- If someone is in charge, what rights do they reserve for themselves?
- At what point does the ratio of community contributions to Eliezer's contributions mean we have the right to claim some ownership?
The Wiki main page says, "The wiki about rationality that anyone who is logged in can edit". Apparently that is a lie. If I do not have as much right as Eliezer does to write a wiki post, I want that point explicitly spelled out.
And in light of Eliezer's response, perhaps find someone he is willing to debate on the topic.
To be honest I suspect it may be interesting to hear what other people than either Phil or Eliezer have to say on the details of group selection applicability. It's a red flag for both of them.
For my part it strikes me that there is something rather different between the thing that Eliezer ridicules and the thing that species selection can be considered an instance of. There is also more to be said on what modern biology has to say on the subject.
It may also be worth seeing if there are contributors with suggestions on how to mellow out the group selection page without introducing any inaccuracies.