Mech interp researchers push back: 'not causal' shouldn't end every argument
burny_tech · x · 2026-11-06
A blog post by liusida2007, "Not Everything in Mech Interp Has to Be Causal," argues against the reflexive two-word dismissal of interpretability findings. Causal evidence is needed when a study claims a feature drives behavior, but not every mech interp contribution makes that claim — descriptive and causal work inform each other, and the right evaluation question is what a paper claims to teach us about the model and whether the evidence supports it, not simply whether it is causal.
- Discovery and explanation can develop together; progress need not follow a single observation-to-validation sequence
- Treating causality as a universal requirement risks overlooking other kinds of scientific progress
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