Yes. I like the article more as it goes on—but, for example, the author couldn’t even get through one essay before calling people “Ra-like”. This would be very disturbing if it actually worked as an insult.
(On a possibly related note, she gives the example of someone implying “a negative-utilitarian belief that humanity ought to be annihilated.” Now this does sound like something I’ve encountered and attributed to runaway signaling. But we should consider the possibility that the speaker mistrusted his interlocutor in particular. Perhaps he thought he had good, solid reasons to believe any future that person created would be worse than death.)
Your reaction was a lot of why I changed the title—I clearly wasn’t saying what I meant.
The original title (from memory) “Blinded by the light—how people shut down thought because of high-status halos”. It still could use some work.
Yes. I like the article more as it goes on—but, for example, the author couldn’t even get through one essay before calling people “Ra-like”. This would be very disturbing if it actually worked as an insult.
(On a possibly related note, she gives the example of someone implying “a negative-utilitarian belief that humanity ought to be annihilated.” Now this does sound like something I’ve encountered and attributed to runaway signaling. But we should consider the possibility that the speaker mistrusted his interlocutor in particular. Perhaps he thought he had good, solid reasons to believe any future that person created would be worse than death.)