From: Robin Hanson (rhanson@gmu.edu)
Date: Wed Jun 04 2003 - 07:29:38 MDT
Phil Osborn wrote:
>The "salon" model is perhaps the closest to what is
>workable and desirable. One of the things that one
>expects to happen at a salon is that people will be
>outrageous, sometimes to get attention, sometimes to
>force consideration of an issue that gets shoved under
>the table repeatedly. Such people can be laughed at,
>ridiculed, humored, whatever. However, they serve at
>least one useful purpose, regardless of the merits of
>what they present to us: they demonstrate that there
>is in fact an atmosphere of free inquiry. Without
>that, the salon is just another fashion clique, and
>any credibility is purely incidental.
>Unfortunately, some people on this list are typically
>so worried that someone might post something that
>would be "embarrassing" to extropianism that at many,
>many points in the past this has served to either
>stifle real free discussion, ... This response
>itself tends to DIScredit any credibility of the list.
>The only proper response - assuming that one considers
>the forum to worth preserving - is to demonstrate the
>impotence of such threats by being even more obnoxious
>and outrageous, even if one is disinclined to be so by
>nature. Then, if that does not result in banishment
>or censorship, we can feel reasonably assured that the
>forum is still free.
>I would suggest, therefore, that everyone attending
>this salon of, for and by the future take it upon
>themselves to make at least one truly outrageous post
>every month or so ...
You seem to believe a model of conversation wherein
people will speak the truth unless social pressure
forces them to conform to a particular party line. But
there can be social pressure to be outrageous as well,
as you demonstrate above. And the absence of social
pressure is not the key to truth; social pressure
often helps the cause of truth, by making people pause
before saying something untrue.
It is far from clear what the ideal social context is
for inducing a group like this to best learn truth,
and to credibly communicate that to outsiders. But a
quick survey of groups that are considered reliable
sources doesn't suggest that the best route is to try
to say crazy-sounding things as often as possible.
Robin Hanson rhanson@gmu.edu http://hanson.gmu.edu
Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
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