Nobody makes plans based on totally accurate maps. Good maps contain simplifications of reality to allow you to make better decisions.
You start to teach children how atoms work by putting the image atoms as spheres into their heads. You don’t start by teaching them a model that’s up to date with the current scientific knowledge of how atoms works. The current model is more accurate but less useful for the children.
You calculate how airplanes fly with Newtons equations instead of using Einstein’s.
In social situations it can also often help to avoid getting certain information.
You don’t have job. You ask a friend to get you a job. The job pays well. He assures you that the work you are doing helps the greater good of the world.
He however also tells you that some of the people you will work with do things in their private lifes that you don’t like.
Would you want him to tell you that your new boss secretly burns little puppies at night? The boss also doesn’t take it kindly if people critizise him for it.
Would you want him to tell you that your new boss secretly burns little puppies at night? The boss also doesn’t take it kindly if people critizise him for it.
Well, yes, I would. Of course, it’s not like he could actually say to me “your boss secretly burns puppies—do you want to know this or not?” But if he said something like “your boss has a dark and disturbing secret which might concern you; we won’t get in trouble just for talking about it, but he won’t take kindly to criticism—do you want me to tell you?”, then yeah, I would definitely want to know. The boss is already burning puppies, so it’s not like the first-level harm is any worse just because I know about it. Maybe I decide I can’t work for someone like that, maybe not, but I’m glad that I know not to leave him alone with my puppies.
Now of course, this doesn’t mean it’s of prime importance to go around hunting for people’s dark secrets. It’s rarely necessary to know these things about someone to make good decisions on a day-to-day basis, the investigation is rarely worth the cost (both in terms of the effort required and the potential blow-ups from getting caught snooping around in the wrong places), and I care independently about not violating people’s privacy. But if you stipulate a situation where I could somehow learn something in a way that skips over these concerns, then sure, give me the dark secret!
The boss is already burning puppies, so it’s not like the first-level harm is any worse just because I know about it.
Knowing the dark secret will produce resentment for your boss. That resentment is likely to make it harder for you to get work done. If you see him with a big smile in the morning you won’t think:
“He seems like a nice guy because he’s smilling” but “Is he so happy because he burned puppies yesterday?”
Well, maybe. I’m actually skeptical that it would have much effect on my productivity. But to reverse the question, suppose you actually did know this about your boss. If you could snap your fingers and erase the knowledge from your brain, would you do it? Would you go on deleting all information that causes you to resent someone, so long as that information wasn’t visibly relevant to some other pending decision?
Deleting information doesn’t make emotions go away. Being afraid and not knowing the reason for being afraid is much worse than just being afraid.
You start to rationalize the emotions with bogus stories to get the emotions make sense.
Nobody makes plans based on totally accurate maps. Good maps contain simplifications of reality to allow you to make better decisions. You start to teach children how atoms work by putting the image atoms as spheres into their heads. You don’t start by teaching them a model that’s up to date with the current scientific knowledge of how atoms works. The current model is more accurate but less useful for the children.
You calculate how airplanes fly with Newtons equations instead of using Einstein’s.
In social situations it can also often help to avoid getting certain information. You don’t have job. You ask a friend to get you a job. The job pays well. He assures you that the work you are doing helps the greater good of the world.
He however also tells you that some of the people you will work with do things in their private lifes that you don’t like.
Would you want him to tell you that your new boss secretly burns little puppies at night? The boss also doesn’t take it kindly if people critizise him for it.
Well, yes, I would. Of course, it’s not like he could actually say to me “your boss secretly burns puppies—do you want to know this or not?” But if he said something like “your boss has a dark and disturbing secret which might concern you; we won’t get in trouble just for talking about it, but he won’t take kindly to criticism—do you want me to tell you?”, then yeah, I would definitely want to know. The boss is already burning puppies, so it’s not like the first-level harm is any worse just because I know about it. Maybe I decide I can’t work for someone like that, maybe not, but I’m glad that I know not to leave him alone with my puppies.
Now of course, this doesn’t mean it’s of prime importance to go around hunting for people’s dark secrets. It’s rarely necessary to know these things about someone to make good decisions on a day-to-day basis, the investigation is rarely worth the cost (both in terms of the effort required and the potential blow-ups from getting caught snooping around in the wrong places), and I care independently about not violating people’s privacy. But if you stipulate a situation where I could somehow learn something in a way that skips over these concerns, then sure, give me the dark secret!
Knowing the dark secret will produce resentment for your boss. That resentment is likely to make it harder for you to get work done. If you see him with a big smile in the morning you won’t think: “He seems like a nice guy because he’s smilling” but “Is he so happy because he burned puppies yesterday?”
Well, maybe. I’m actually skeptical that it would have much effect on my productivity. But to reverse the question, suppose you actually did know this about your boss. If you could snap your fingers and erase the knowledge from your brain, would you do it? Would you go on deleting all information that causes you to resent someone, so long as that information wasn’t visibly relevant to some other pending decision?
Deleting information doesn’t make emotions go away. Being afraid and not knowing the reason for being afraid is much worse than just being afraid. You start to rationalize the emotions with bogus stories to get the emotions make sense.