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Hi more better -- interesting question.
Just to clarify -- are you mostly concerned about asking questions that could get you as an individual in trouble with authorities, security services, social media watchdogs, etc?
Or are you mostly concerned about raising questions on public forums (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, EA Forum, LessWrong) that would draw more public attention to certain ideas that could constitute infohazards?
Or, mostly concerned about asking questions through search engines (e.g. Google, Bing) or Large Language Models (e.g. Chat GPT) that would lead search algorithms or AI systems to become more aware of certain infohazards?
All three are legit concerns, I think, but they might entail very different answers....
Hi more better,
Yeah, I can relate, these sorts of situations can be tough.
I work on the biosecurity & pandemic preparedness team at Open Philanthropy. In the realm of biosecurity at least, I'm happy to be a resource for helping troubleshoot these sorts of issues, including both general questions and more specific concerns. The best way to contact me, anonymously or non-anonymously, is through this short form.
Importantly, if you're reaching out, please do not include potentially sensitive details of info hazards in form submissions – if necessary, we can arrange more secure means of follow-up communication, anonymous or otherwise (e.g., a phone call).
Seconding this: talking through the idea with someone experienced in the field who is sensitive about infohazards is a good approach. Much better than writing up your concern, and especially writing it up publicly.
(The main downside is that this doesn't scale very well, but at this stage in the field I think that's not a problem we have yet?)
Thank you, @cwbakerlee and @Jeff Kaufman . I appreciate this.