2026-02-10
Being ignored doesn't mean being disliked
Disclaimer
- Quick Note
- Contains politically sensitive info
- I am writing this as a reminder to myself
Main
- My opinions are definitely disliked by a significant number of people in EA/LW spaces, because they have openly told me so.
- I am also personally disliked (not just my opinions) by atleast some people in EA/LW spaces, because they have openly told me so. But the dislike is not to the point of becoming a dedicated enemy.
- I am liked by atleast some people in EA/LW spaces, because they have openly told me so. But the liking is not to the point of becoming a cofounder, or a close friend.
- By far, the largest set of people has basically ignored my opinions. This could include ignoring my cold emails to EA/LW people, or ignoring my posts on EA/LW forums.
- I often seem to immediately extrapolate this in my head to - oh, most of these people think I am a bad person.
- And like, yes, I do need to deal with the object-level stuff around trust and morality.
- At some point, I need to take a clear decision on "stay in India long-term, support breaking US law, self-censor opinions on Indian politics" versus "stay in US longterm, self-censor opinions on US politics".
- (Side note - yes fuck it, let me just discuss this tradeoff in public too. because this is clearly the tradeoff)
- At some point, I do need to take a clear decision on morality of all the cyberattack stuff.
- But also, I maybe don't need to extrapolate this so hard? Some people dislike me as a person, and lots of people ignore me, doesn't mean everyone dislikes me.
- Being ignored could mean they were busy and literally did not see my message. It could mean they saw it for 10 seconds and weren't convinced there's anything useful for them. It could mean they misunderstood one of my opinions, and couldn't get it clarified because I wasn't there in person to do so. It definitely means my content was not persuasive, but "not persuasive" is very different from "actively dislike".
- I think it is worth it for me to maintain private lists of EA/LW people I've met irl/video, who do actually agree with me on most of my opinions (if not all) and do actually like me as a person.
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