Title: If Clarity Seems Like Death to Them
Author: Zack M. Davis
-Date: 2023-07-01 11:00
+Date: 2023-12-16 11:00
Category: commentary
Tags: bullet-biting, cathartic, categorization, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Scott Alexander, epistemic horror, my robot cult, personal, sex differences, two-type taxonomy, whale metaphors
Status: draft
I did think that Kelsey was mistaken about how much causality to attribute to Michael's influence, rather than to me already being socially retarded. From my perspective, validation from Michael was merely the catalyst that excited me from confused-and-sad to confused-and-socially-aggressive-about-it. The latter phase revealed a lot of information, and not just to me. Now I was ready to be less confused—after I was done grieving.
-Later, talking in person at "Arcadia", Kelsey told me that someone whose identity she would not disclose had threatened to sue over the report about Michael, so REACH was delaying its release for the one-year statute of limitations. As far as my interest in defending Michael went, I counted this as short-term good news (because the report wasn't being published) but longer-term bad news (because the report must be a hit piece if Michael's mysterious ally was trying to hush it).
+Later, talking in person at "Arcadia", Kelsey told me that someone whose identity she would not disclose had threatened to sue over the report about Michael, so REACH was delaying its release. As far as my interest in defending Michael went, I counted this as short-term good news (because the report wasn't being published for now) but longer-term bad news (because the report must be a hit piece if Michael's mysterious ally was trying to hush it).
When I mentioned this to Michael on Signal on 3 August 2019, he replied:
On 10 February 2020, Scott Alexander published ["Autogenderphilia Is Common and Not Especially Related to Transgender"](https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/02/10/autogenderphilia-is-common-and-not-especially-related-to-transgender/), an analysis of the results of the autogynephilia/autoandrophilia questions on the recent _Slate Star Codex_ survey.
-I appreciated the endeavor of getting real data, but I was deeply unimpressed with Alexander's analysis for reasons that I found difficult to write up in a timely manner. Three and a half years later, I eventually got around to [polishing my draft and throwing it up as a standalone post](/2023/Nov/reply-to-scott-alexander-on-autogenderphilia/).
+I appreciated the endeavor of getting real data, but I was deeply unimpressed with Alexander's analysis for reasons that I found difficult to write up in a timely manner. Three and a half years later, I eventually got around to [polishing my draft and throwing it up as a standalone post](/2023/Dec/reply-to-scott-alexander-on-autogenderphilia/).
Based on eyeballing the survey data, Alexander proposes "if you identify as a gender, and you're attracted to that gender, it's a natural leap to be attracted to yourself being that gender" as a "very boring" theory.
✓ clear with Alicorn
✓ fill in needed pt. 4 sections
✓ send pt. 4 to editors
+✓ clear with Kelsey
+✓ rephrase "everyone-yelling operation" in pt. 5
+✓ clear with Michael/Ben/Jessica
+✓ Kelsey won't elaborate on statutes of limitations
+- clear with Steven
+- consult Anna
+- finish and ship "Hrunkner Unnerby"
+✓ revise gender section
+
+_ revise FTX footnote
-- rephrase "everyone-yelling operation" in pt. 5
-_ rephrase "trans kids on the margin" section: https://luminousalicorn.tumblr.com/post/702114588699820032/what-exactly-are-the-tell-tale-signs-of-a-3-year
_ finish and ship "Reply to Scott on Autogenderphilia"
-_ finish and ship "Hrunkner Unnerby"
-_ consult Anna
-_ clear with Steven
-_ clear with Kelsey
-_ clear with Michael/Ben/Jessica
-_ consult Said
+- consult Said
_ clear with Ray
_ clear with Ruby
_ apply red team pt. 5
_ apply pro edit pt. 5
+✓ consult Tail
+
+_ bully Jeff Ladish
+_ #drama strategy session
+
+_ Manifold: Will Yudkowsky reply to "Agreeing With Stalin in Ways That Exhibit Generally Rationalist Principles" in a way that a 2008 Overcoming Bias reader would consider non-evasive, as judged by Vaniver?
+
+_ ask Jimrandomh about attack times
_ consult lc
_ consult David Xu
_ psychiatric disaster private doc
✓ re-check wording of trans-kids-on-the-margin section
_ briefly speculate on causes of brain damage in footnote?
_ "consensus behavior" anti-school complaint could be stronger
-----
+-------
_ Ruby fight included ban threat, "forces of blandness want me gone ... stand my ground" remark
_ breakup song
_ being friends with dogs (it's good, but do I have the wordcount budget?)
_ screenshot Xu thread
-things to discuss with Michael/Ben/Jessica—
-_ Anna on Paul Graham
-_ Yudkowsky thinking reasoning wasn't useful
-_ Jessica brought up race & IQ (she skimmed the previous draft, so I should highlight), or calling Ruby a MOP
-_ Ben publish "Discursive Warfare and Faction Formation" doc?
-_ footnote about FTX
-_ revision of "yelling" description
-_ Michael's SLAPP against REACH (new)
-_ Michael on creepy and crazy men (new)
-_ elided Sasha disaster (new)
-_ what should I say to Iceman? https://twitter.com/satisfiesvalues/status/1730025195413410129
-_ reached out to Garrison Lovely
-
+Vassar et al.—
+✓ "What You Can't Say"
+✓ reached out to Garrison Lovely
+✓ Michael on creepy and crazy men (new)
+✓ Michael's SLAPP against REACH (new)
+✓ elided Sasha disaster (new)
+✓ Ben publish "Discursive Warfare and Faction Formation" doc?
+✓ Yudkowsky thinking reasoning wasn't useful
+✓ Jessica brought up race & IQ (she skimmed the previous draft, so I should highlight), or calling Ruby a MOP
+✓ what should I say to Iceman? https://twitter.com/satisfiesvalues/status/1730025195413410129
+✓ footnote about FTX
+✓ revision of "yelling" description
pt. 3–5 prereaders—