Paul GrahamVerified account

Wow this is so, so awful. We literally cancelled all plans and spent our whole weekend on this post. Rachel even shared her deeply personal medical horror story to help people understand the issues better. And there's *no* money in our @fastdotai work. It *costs* us to do it. 1/https://twitter.com/math_rachel/status/1237517339366535168 …

Rachel is also the founding director of the Center for Applied Data Ethics. The post was literally and directly about applied data ethics. It discussed the ethical issues of how people and society should respond to an issue that need data analysis, not intuition. 2/

At one level, I understand intellectually how hard it is for academics in highly technical fields to recognize the contributions of humanities and social science folks. e.g I just saw another academic complain that a public policy expert was discussing covid-19 public policy. 3/

But at another level it's heart-breaking and soul-destroying to see such toxic, petty, ignorant reactions, especially from a community that I'm a part of. Every single time I write something that tries to make complex subjects accessible, I always get a reaction like this. 4/

Every. Single. Fucking. Time. I really thought, this time, telling folks that they should listen to epidemiologists, wash their hands, and not ignore the threat of covid-19, we might be able to skip the awfulness. But no. And it's *always* men from high-status institutions 5/

Rachel is recovering from brain surgery. I'm recovering from a heart attack, amongst other risk factors. We are both at-risk for covid-19. We wanted to at least be able to explain to our local community how to decrease risk for us, and thought other might find it helpful. 6/

I'm at a loss. I can't keep handling the emotional burden of being attacked every time I try to do good. I give away everything I do for free (except for a tiny adjunct university contract). I'm dedicating my life to trying to help others. Why do some just want to hurt?