Hopefully_Anonymous comments on Radical Honesty - Less Wrong

20 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 10 September 2007 06:09AM

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Comment author: Hopefully_Anonymous 10 September 2007 09:21:34PM 1 point [-]

Mike Kenny, great comment. Since all the nonanonymous blogging experts on this site probably have ideas and thoughts of social value, but that woulde harm their narrative arcs and reputations, I encourage them to have separate anonymous blogs where they share these ideas. Certain topics, like IQ and genetics, jewish influence in media, finance, and politics, eugenics, and limiting disenfranchisement seem to come with large reputational costs that probably drive away the brightest minds. Also, there's probably reputational pressure for experts not to criticize pet ideas of other experts.

Graduate students should be blogging pointed disagreements with their thesis advisors, tenure-seeking professors their disagrements with people who will influence whether they get tenure, scientists/economists their disagrements with people who may influence whether they receive professional prizes and honors -at least anonymously.

Then if the idea becomes accepted in a widespread way, they have the option of revealing themselves to be the anonymous blogger, and thus get the reputational gains for being an early and influential advocate for a particular idea or policy.