Scott Alexander

I don't know if I have that much interesting things to say there.

I mean, I think one thing is fear is a huge factor.

I was like so afraid during that whole process, more afraid than I needed to be in retrospect.

And another thing is that like legality is a huge factor, at least for people like me.

I think, like, in retrospect, it was like, oh, yeah, like, the public's on your side.

The employees are on your side.

Like, you're just, like, obviously on the right here, you know?

But at the time, I was like, oh, no, like, I don't want to accidentally, like, violate the law and get sued.

Like, I don't want to go too far.

Like, I don't know.

I was just, like, so afraid of various things.

In particular, I was afraid of breaking the law.

Um, and so like one of the things that I would advocate for with whistleblower protections is just like simply making it legal to go talk to the government and say, we're doing a secret intelligence explosion.

I think it's dangerous for these reasons is better than nothing.

Like, I think there's going to be like some fraction of people who, for which that would make the difference, like whether it's just literally allowed or not legally makes a difference independently of whether there's some law that says you're protected from retaliation or whatever, just like literally just making it legal.

Um,

Yeah, I think that's one thing.

Another thing is the incentives actually work.

Like, money is a powerful motivator, you know?

And fear of getting sued is a powerful motivator.