Effective Altruism and Rationality communities aspire to be open to criticism. But oftentimes when you give it, the criticism is appreciated but not acted upon. In particular, if you only express an argument, it won’t be taken into account unless you explain your whole model from the first principles and how the criticism-taker can marginally adjust their worldview to accept the criticism. More broadly, this is the discussion tradition common in English culture. While there are many merits to it, it leads to misunderstandings and underappreciation of certain “controversial” thinkers.
Nassim Taleb is a perfect example: catchy, provocative, and often self-contradictory, he is avoided by the mainstream academia and public because of his... (read 405 more words →)