Many of those acts can be undertaken without having any such qualities, though.
I agree. I’m not defending Hanson’s theory, just saying what it is. Perhaps in more starkly extreme terms than he might, but I have never seen him put any limits on the concept. This, I am suggesting, is the origin of the broad application of the concept on LessWrong.
Meanwhile out there in the real world, if you specifically want to get a job that requires you to speak Chinese, you are going to have to attend a course in Chinese, to actually learn Chinese.
Quite so. But you are thinking like an engineer—that is, you are thinking in terms of actually getting things done. This is the right way to think, but it is not the way of the Hansonian fundamentalist (an imaginary figure that appears in my head when I contemplate signalling theory, and should not be confused with Robin Hanson himself).
The Hansonian fundamentalist would respond that it’s still all signalling. The only thing that he aims at getting done is the acquisition of status for himself. All else is means. The role that the actual ability to speak Chinese plays is that of an unforgeable signal, a concept which replaces that of truth, as far as what goes on inside our heads is concerned. Tarski’s definition of truth stands, but the Litany of Tarski does not. It is replaced by, “If X is true, I desire whatever attitude to X will maximise my status; if X is false, I desire whatever attitude to X will maximise my status. Let me not become attached to anything but status.”
If the job really cannot be done without good spoken Chinese, then to keep that job, you will need that ability. But if in the particular situation you correctly judged that you could get by with English and the help of a Chinese secretary, busk your way through the training course, and pull strings to keep your job if you run into difficulties, then that would be Homo Hypocritus’ choice. Homo Hypocritus does whatever will work best to convince his boss of his worthy qualities, with what lawyers call reckless disregard for the truth. Truth is never a consideration, except as a contingent means to status.
ETA:
I think Hanson’s ideas are far more applicable to Hanson’s own personal behaviour than to the world in general.
In particular, what he’s trying to do with his “Signalling theory” is not to tell us anything about human behaviour, but instead to try to imply that he is neglecting necessity for actual training, which would be consistent with him having some immense innate abilities but not trying hard.
He does have tenure at a reputable American university, which I think is not a prize handed out cheaply. OTOH, I am reminded of a cartoon whose caption is “Mad? Of course I’m mad! But I have tenure!”
If the job really cannot be done without good spoken Chinese, then to keep that job, you will need that ability. But if in the particular situation you correctly judged that you could get by with English and the help of a Chinese secretary, busk your way through the training course, and pull strings to keep your job if you run into difficulties, then that would be Homo Hypocritus’ choice. Homo Hypocritus does whatever will work best to convince his boss of his worthy qualities, with what lawyers call reckless disregard for the truth. Truth is never a consideration, except as a contingent means to status.
At that point we aren’t really talking about signalling innate qualities, we’re talking of forgeries and pretending. Those only work at all because there are people who are not pretending.
A fly that looks like a wasp is only scary because there are wasps with venom that actually works. And those wasps have venom so potent because they actually use it to defend the hives. They don’t merely have venom to be worthy of having bright colours. Venom works directly, not through the bright colour.
One could of course forge the signals and then convince themselves that they are honestly signalling the ability to forge signals… but at the end of the day, this fly that looks like a wasp, it is just a regular fly, and it only gets an advantage from us not being fully certain that it is a regular fly. And the flies that look like wasps are not even close to displacing the other flies - there’s an upper limit on those.
He does have tenure at a reputable American university, which I think is not a prize handed out cheaply. OTOH, I am reminded of a cartoon whose caption is “Mad? Of course I’m mad! But I have tenure!”
Well, tenure is an example of status… and in his current field there may not be as many equivalents of “venom actually working” as in other fields so it looks like it is all about colours.
I agree. I’m not defending Hanson’s theory, just saying what it is. Perhaps in more starkly extreme terms than he might, but I have never seen him put any limits on the concept. This, I am suggesting, is the origin of the broad application of the concept on LessWrong.
Quite so. But you are thinking like an engineer—that is, you are thinking in terms of actually getting things done. This is the right way to think, but it is not the way of the Hansonian fundamentalist (an imaginary figure that appears in my head when I contemplate signalling theory, and should not be confused with Robin Hanson himself).
The Hansonian fundamentalist would respond that it’s still all signalling. The only thing that he aims at getting done is the acquisition of status for himself. All else is means. The role that the actual ability to speak Chinese plays is that of an unforgeable signal, a concept which replaces that of truth, as far as what goes on inside our heads is concerned. Tarski’s definition of truth stands, but the Litany of Tarski does not. It is replaced by, “If X is true, I desire whatever attitude to X will maximise my status; if X is false, I desire whatever attitude to X will maximise my status. Let me not become attached to anything but status.”
If the job really cannot be done without good spoken Chinese, then to keep that job, you will need that ability. But if in the particular situation you correctly judged that you could get by with English and the help of a Chinese secretary, busk your way through the training course, and pull strings to keep your job if you run into difficulties, then that would be Homo Hypocritus’ choice. Homo Hypocritus does whatever will work best to convince his boss of his worthy qualities, with what lawyers call reckless disregard for the truth. Truth is never a consideration, except as a contingent means to status.
ETA:
He does have tenure at a reputable American university, which I think is not a prize handed out cheaply. OTOH, I am reminded of a cartoon whose caption is “Mad? Of course I’m mad! But I have tenure!”
At that point we aren’t really talking about signalling innate qualities, we’re talking of forgeries and pretending. Those only work at all because there are people who are not pretending.
A fly that looks like a wasp is only scary because there are wasps with venom that actually works. And those wasps have venom so potent because they actually use it to defend the hives. They don’t merely have venom to be worthy of having bright colours. Venom works directly, not through the bright colour.
One could of course forge the signals and then convince themselves that they are honestly signalling the ability to forge signals… but at the end of the day, this fly that looks like a wasp, it is just a regular fly, and it only gets an advantage from us not being fully certain that it is a regular fly. And the flies that look like wasps are not even close to displacing the other flies - there’s an upper limit on those.
Well, tenure is an example of status… and in his current field there may not be as many equivalents of “venom actually working” as in other fields so it looks like it is all about colours.