Publicly failing in the quantity necessary to maximize your learning growth is very low-status and not many people have the stomach for it.
We have preferences for what we want to experience, and we have preferences for what those preferences are. We prefer to prefer to be wrong, but it’s rare we actually prefer it. Readily admitting you’re wrong is the right decision morally, but practically all it does is incentivize your debate partners to go ad hominem or ignore you.
We prefer to prefer to be wrong, but it’s rare we actually prefer it.
Well, if I prefer to prefer being wrong, then I plan ahead accordingly, which includes a policy against ridiculous karma games motivated by fleeting emotional reactions.
but practically all it does is incentivize your debate partners to go ad hominem or ignore you
So my options are:
Attempt to manipulate the community into admitting I’m right, or
Eat the emotional consequences of being called names and ignored, in exchange for either honest or visibly inappropriate feedback from my debate partners.
Does this count as honest or visibly inappropriate feedback?
I value 1 over 2. Quality of feedback is, as expected, higher in 2, but comes infrequently enough that I estimate 1 wins out over a long period of time by providing less quality at a higher rate.
My last sentence was a deliberate snark, but it’s “honest” in the sense that I’m attempting to communicate something that I couldn’t find a simpler way to say (roughly: that I think you’re placing too much importance on “feeling right”, and that I dismiss that reaction as not being a “legitimate” motivation in this context).
I have no problem making status-tinged statements if I think they’re productive—I’ll let the community be the judge of their appropriateness. There’s definitely a fine line between efficiency and distraction, I have no delusions of omniscience concerning its location. I’m pretty sure that participation in this community has shaved off a lot of pointless attitude from my approach to online discourse. Feedback is good.
I disagree quantitatively with your specific conclusion concerning quality vs quantity, but I don’t see any structural flaw in your reasoning.
But how can you have any self-respect, knowing that you prefer to feel right than be right? For me, the feeling of being being wrong is much less-bad than believing I’m so unable to handle being wrong that I’m sabotaging the beliefs of myself and those around me. I would regard myself as pathetic, if I made decisions like that.
But it’s preferable to be wrong.
For who? Quote from my comment:
We have preferences for what we want to experience, and we have preferences for what those preferences are. We prefer to prefer to be wrong, but it’s rare we actually prefer it. Readily admitting you’re wrong is the right decision morally, but practically all it does is incentivize your debate partners to go ad hominem or ignore you.
Well, if I prefer to prefer being wrong, then I plan ahead accordingly, which includes a policy against ridiculous karma games motivated by fleeting emotional reactions.
So my options are:
Attempt to manipulate the community into admitting I’m right, or
Eat the emotional consequences of being called names and ignored, in exchange for either honest or visibly inappropriate feedback from my debate partners.
I’ll go with 2. Sorry about your insecurities.
Does this count as honest or visibly inappropriate feedback?
I value 1 over 2. Quality of feedback is, as expected, higher in 2, but comes infrequently enough that I estimate 1 wins out over a long period of time by providing less quality at a higher rate.
My last sentence was a deliberate snark, but it’s “honest” in the sense that I’m attempting to communicate something that I couldn’t find a simpler way to say (roughly: that I think you’re placing too much importance on “feeling right”, and that I dismiss that reaction as not being a “legitimate” motivation in this context).
I have no problem making status-tinged statements if I think they’re productive—I’ll let the community be the judge of their appropriateness. There’s definitely a fine line between efficiency and distraction, I have no delusions of omniscience concerning its location. I’m pretty sure that participation in this community has shaved off a lot of pointless attitude from my approach to online discourse. Feedback is good.
I disagree quantitatively with your specific conclusion concerning quality vs quantity, but I don’t see any structural flaw in your reasoning.
It’s only productive inasmuch as it takes advantage of the halo effect—trying to make your argument look better than it really is. How is that honest?
But how can you have any self-respect, knowing that you prefer to feel right than be right? For me, the feeling of being being wrong is much less-bad than believing I’m so unable to handle being wrong that I’m sabotaging the beliefs of myself and those around me. I would regard myself as pathetic, if I made decisions like that.