I think I'm entitled to opine...

Of course you are. And, you may not be one of the people who "like my earlier papers."

You confirm the lead poster's allegations that SIA staff are insular and conceited.

Really? How? I commented earlier on LW (can't find it now) about how the kind of papers I write barely count as "original research" because for the most part they merely summarize and clarify the ideas of others. But as Beckstead says, there is a strong need for that right now.

For insights in decision theory and FAI theory, I suspect we'll have to look to somebody besides Luke Muehlhauser. We keep trying to hire such people but they keep saying "No." (I got two more "no"s just in the last 3 weeks.) Part of that may be due to the past and current state of the organization — and luckily, fixing that kind of thing is something I seem to have some skills with.

You're... a textbook writer at heart.

True, dat.