It fascinates me that this got 14 karma points. I have libertarian tendencies, I keep few close relationships, and I put a high value on my privacy and independence. And, yet, under the right circumstances, I would really appreciate it if people in my community would help me correct for my akrasia/selfishness/ignorance. If I resent a particular intrusion, I chalk that up to the circumstances being wrong (e.g., you don’t understand what I’m really trying to accomplish), rather than to a violation of some strong principle (you should never try to control my behavior).
The fact that you have few close relationships and strongly value independence might be contributing to the fact that you don’t find the quoted phrase problematic.
Consider a social network with reciprocal support agreements, such that nodes in that network will act to protect one another’s interests when those interests are threatened. So if an agent X is seen by the network to be threatening the interests of a node N, the network will act to protect N’s interests against X.
Suppose that nodes in that network vary in terms of the strengths of their reciprocal support agreements. Call S(N) the typical strength of such agreements for a node N, such that the higher S(N) is, the more effectively the network will act to protect N’s interests against X in the above scenario.
If node N2 has fewer close relationships, and places a higher value on privacy and independence, than node N1, it’s likely that S(N2) < S(N1), which means that if agents X1 and X2 are seen to act against (respectively) N1 and N2′s interests, N1′s interests are better protected by the network than N2′s are.
Call “stealth” the ability of an agent to act against a node’s interest without being seen by the network as acting against that node’s interests. Obviously, stealth is more valuable to X1 than to X2; equally obviously, X1′s stealth is more of a threat to N1 than X2′s stealth is to N2.
For example, suppose each X argues that their action is actually in their corresponding N’s interests, but that the N can’t perceive its own interests as effectively as the X can perceive the N’s interest. This is a form of stealth, in that arguing this successfully results in X not being seen as acting against N’s interest.
Consequently we’d expect N2 to object to that argument far less than N1 does, since it’s more of a threat to N1 than it is to N2.
EDIT—Corrected some mislabeling. Changes are bolded.
And, yet, under the right circumstances, I would really appreciate it if people in my community would help me correct for my akrasia/selfishness/ignorance.
If someone needs to tell me they are not coercing me then the remainder of their sentence jolly well better not be an explanation of how they are trying to control my behavior. In cases where their controlling intervention is desired I don’t need to be told that they are not coercing me. If their control is not desired then telling me that they are not is begging for reprisal.
It fascinates me that this got 14 karma points. I have libertarian tendencies, I keep few close relationships, and I put a high value on my privacy and independence. And, yet, under the right circumstances, I would really appreciate it if people in my community would help me correct for my akrasia/selfishness/ignorance. If I resent a particular intrusion, I chalk that up to the circumstances being wrong (e.g., you don’t understand what I’m really trying to accomplish), rather than to a violation of some strong principle (you should never try to control my behavior).
The fact that you have few close relationships and strongly value independence might be contributing to the fact that you don’t find the quoted phrase problematic.
Consider a social network with reciprocal support agreements, such that nodes in that network will act to protect one another’s interests when those interests are threatened. So if an agent X is seen by the network to be threatening the interests of a node N, the network will act to protect N’s interests against X.
Suppose that nodes in that network vary in terms of the strengths of their reciprocal support agreements. Call S(N) the typical strength of such agreements for a node N, such that the higher S(N) is, the more effectively the network will act to protect N’s interests against X in the above scenario.
If node N2 has fewer close relationships, and places a higher value on privacy and independence, than node N1, it’s likely that S(N2) < S(N1), which means that if agents X1 and X2 are seen to act against (respectively) N1 and N2′s interests, N1′s interests are better protected by the network than N2′s are.
Call “stealth” the ability of an agent to act against a node’s interest without being seen by the network as acting against that node’s interests. Obviously, stealth is more valuable to X1 than to X2; equally obviously, X1′s stealth is more of a threat to N1 than X2′s stealth is to N2.
For example, suppose each X argues that their action is actually in their corresponding N’s interests, but that the N can’t perceive its own interests as effectively as the X can perceive the N’s interest. This is a form of stealth, in that arguing this successfully results in X not being seen as acting against N’s interest.
Consequently we’d expect N2 to object to that argument far less than N1 does, since it’s more of a threat to N1 than it is to N2.
EDIT—Corrected some mislabeling. Changes are bolded.
If someone needs to tell me they are not coercing me then the remainder of their sentence jolly well better not be an explanation of how they are trying to control my behavior. In cases where their controlling intervention is desired I don’t need to be told that they are not coercing me. If their control is not desired then telling me that they are not is begging for reprisal.