Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Where is the Town Square?, published by Gretta Duleba on February 13, 2024 on LessWrong.

I am seeking crowdsourced wisdom.

Suppose I[1] want to influence public opinion on a complicated, nuanced topic.[2]

And further suppose that one of the ways I want to do that is by participating actively in public discourse: posting short-form content, reacting to other people's short-form content, signal boosting good takes, thoughtfully rebutting bad takes, etc.

Suppose that the people I most want to reach are those who make and influence policy in places like the US, EU, UK, and China; the general voting public (because they vote for legislators); and the intelligentsia in fields related to my topic (because some of them advise policymakers).

On what platform(s)/in what outlet(s) should I be doing this in 2024? "And, since I can't do everything: what popular platforms shouldn't I prioritize?

And more specifically, does Twitter/X still matter, and how much? I am aware that many people have moved to mastodon or bluesky or whatever. Is there critical mass anywhere?

^

who happen to be the Communications Manager at MIRI

^

The topic is AI x-risk.

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