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“Scott Alexander’s” blog was smart, interesting, and I was the better for reading it. @CadeMetz didn’t need to reveal the author’s identity to write about it. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/13/technology/slate-star-codex-rationalists.html
What’s more, the blog was sui generis: despite @CadeMetz’s framing, too intelligent to be representative of “Rationalists.” Also, too learned and playful to be representative of the culture of the SV “elite” (whoever they are). Not, was it right wing or even libertarian.
I spent 20 years before the masthead, and am proud of my work at Red Herring, Acumen, and Tech Review. But I don’t know what’s happened to my former profession: they’ve declared war on their own own subjects, and seem more concerned to enforce conformity than report what’s new.
There’s a telling moment in Cade Metz’s piece where he tut-tuts that the “tech industry... deeply distrusted the mainstream media and generally preferred discussion to take place on their own terms, without scrutiny from the outside world.”
He’s offended his subjects don’t trust his good intentions, and appalled by the free exchange of ideas. “Scrutinize” away, man: but don’t expect to be loved by your sources, nor read by the larger public who want to understand what’s new in science and tech and why it matters.
