I believe that SI is a valuable organisation and would be pleased if they were to keep their current level of funding.
Do you feel this conflicts with opinions expressed on your blog? If not, why not?
Do you feel this conflicts with opinions expressed on your blog? If not, why not?
Your question demands a thoughtful reply. I don't have the time to do so right now.
Maybe the following snippet from a conversation with Holden can shed some light on what is really a very complicated subject:
I even believe that SIAI, even given its shortcomings, is valuable. It makes people think, especially the AI/CS crowd, and causes debate.
I certainly do not envy you for having to decide if it is a worthwhile charity.
What I am saying is that I wouldn't mind if it kept it...
I was wondering - what fraction of people here agree with Holden's advice regarding donations, and his arguments? What fraction assumes there is a good chance he is essentially correct? What fraction finds it necessary to determine whenever Holden is essentially correct in his assessment, before working on counter argumentation, acknowledging that such investigation should be able to result in dissolution or suspension of SI?
It would seem to me, from the response, that the chosen course of action is to try to improve the presentation of the argument, rather than to try to verify truth values of the assertions (with the non-negligible likelihood of assertions being found false instead). This strikes me as very odd stance.
Ultimately: why SI seems certain that it has badly presented some valid reasoning, rather than tried to present some invalid reasoning?
edit: I am interested in knowing why people agree/disagree with Holden, and what likehood they give to him being essentially correct, rather than a number or a ratio (that would be subject to selection bias).