I was not signaling. Making it a footnote instead of just editing it outright was signaling. Revering truth, and stating that I do so, was not.
Now that I’ve introspected some more, I notice that my inclination to prioritize the accuracy of information I attend to above its competing features comes from the slow accumulation of evidence that excellent practical epistemology is the the strongest possible foundation for instrumental success. To be perfectly honest, deep down, my motivation has been “I see people around me succeeding by these means where I have failed, and I want to be like them”.
I have long been more viscerally motivated by things that are interesting or beautiful than by things that correspond to the territory. So it’s not too surprising that toward the beginning of my rationality training, I went through a long period of being so enamored with a-veridical instrumental techniques that I double-thought myself into believing accuracy was not so great.
But I was wrong, you see. Having accurate beliefs is a ridiculously convergent incentive, so whatever my goal structure, it was only a matter of time before I’d recognize that. Every utility function that involves interaction with the territory—interaction of just about any kind!--benefits from a sound map. Even if “beauty” is a terminal value, “being viscerally motivated to increase your ability to make predictions that lead to greater beauty” increases your odds of success.
Recognizing only abstractly that map-territory correspondence is useful does not produce the same results. Cultivating a deep dedication to ensuring every motion precisely engages reality with unfailing authenticity prevents real-world mistakes that noting the utility of information, just sort of in passing, will miss.
For some people, dedication to epistemic rationality may most effectively manifest as excitement or simply diligence. For me, it is reverence. Reverence works in my psychology better than anything else. So I revere the truth. Not for the sake of the people watching me do so, but for the sake of accomplishing whatever it is I happen to want to accomplish.
“Being truth-seeking” does not mean “wanting to know ALL THE THINGS”. It means exhibiting patters of thought and behavior that consistently increase calibration. I daresay that is, in fact, necessary for being well-calibrated.
...my motivation has been “I see people around me succeeding by these means where I have failed, and I want to be like them”.
Seems like noticing yourself wanting to imitate successful people around you should be an occasion for self-scrutiny. Do you really have good reasons to think the things you’re imitating them on are the cause of their success? Are the people you’re imitating more successful than other people who don’t do those things, but who you don’t interact with as much? Or is this more about wanting to affiliate the high-status people you happen to be in close proximity to?
It is indeed a cue to look for motivated reasoning. I am not neglecting to do that. I have scrutinized extensively. It is possible to be motivated by very simple emotions while constraining the actions you take to the set endorsed by deliberative reasoning.
The observation that something fits the status-seeking patterns you’ve cached is not strong evidence that nothing else is going on. If you can write off everything anybody does by saying “status” and “signaling” without making predictions about their future behavior—or even looking into their past behavior to see whether they usually fit the patterns—then you’re trapped in a paradigm that’s only good for protecting your current set of beliefs.
Yes, I do have good reasons to think the things I’m imitating are causes of their success. Yes, they’re more successful on average than people who don’t do the things, and indeed I think they’re probably more successful with respect to my values than literally everybody who doesn’t do the things. And I don’t “happen” to be in close proximity to them; I sought them out and became close to them specifically so I could learn from them more efficiently.
I am annoyed by vague, fully general criticisms that don’t engage meaningfully with any of my arguments or musings, let alone steel man them.
I was not signaling. Making it a footnote instead of just editing it outright was signaling. Revering truth, and stating that I do so, was not.
Now that I’ve introspected some more, I notice that my inclination to prioritize the accuracy of information I attend to above its competing features comes from the slow accumulation of evidence that excellent practical epistemology is the the strongest possible foundation for instrumental success. To be perfectly honest, deep down, my motivation has been “I see people around me succeeding by these means where I have failed, and I want to be like them”.
I have long been more viscerally motivated by things that are interesting or beautiful than by things that correspond to the territory. So it’s not too surprising that toward the beginning of my rationality training, I went through a long period of being so enamored with a-veridical instrumental techniques that I double-thought myself into believing accuracy was not so great.
But I was wrong, you see. Having accurate beliefs is a ridiculously convergent incentive, so whatever my goal structure, it was only a matter of time before I’d recognize that. Every utility function that involves interaction with the territory—interaction of just about any kind!--benefits from a sound map. Even if “beauty” is a terminal value, “being viscerally motivated to increase your ability to make predictions that lead to greater beauty” increases your odds of success.
Recognizing only abstractly that map-territory correspondence is useful does not produce the same results. Cultivating a deep dedication to ensuring every motion precisely engages reality with unfailing authenticity prevents real-world mistakes that noting the utility of information, just sort of in passing, will miss.
For some people, dedication to epistemic rationality may most effectively manifest as excitement or simply diligence. For me, it is reverence. Reverence works in my psychology better than anything else. So I revere the truth. Not for the sake of the people watching me do so, but for the sake of accomplishing whatever it is I happen to want to accomplish.
“Being truth-seeking” does not mean “wanting to know ALL THE THINGS”. It means exhibiting patters of thought and behavior that consistently increase calibration. I daresay that is, in fact, necessary for being well-calibrated.
Seems like noticing yourself wanting to imitate successful people around you should be an occasion for self-scrutiny. Do you really have good reasons to think the things you’re imitating them on are the cause of their success? Are the people you’re imitating more successful than other people who don’t do those things, but who you don’t interact with as much? Or is this more about wanting to affiliate the high-status people you happen to be in close proximity to?
It is indeed a cue to look for motivated reasoning. I am not neglecting to do that. I have scrutinized extensively. It is possible to be motivated by very simple emotions while constraining the actions you take to the set endorsed by deliberative reasoning.
The observation that something fits the status-seeking patterns you’ve cached is not strong evidence that nothing else is going on. If you can write off everything anybody does by saying “status” and “signaling” without making predictions about their future behavior—or even looking into their past behavior to see whether they usually fit the patterns—then you’re trapped in a paradigm that’s only good for protecting your current set of beliefs.
Yes, I do have good reasons to think the things I’m imitating are causes of their success. Yes, they’re more successful on average than people who don’t do the things, and indeed I think they’re probably more successful with respect to my values than literally everybody who doesn’t do the things. And I don’t “happen” to be in close proximity to them; I sought them out and became close to them specifically so I could learn from them more efficiently.
I am annoyed by vague, fully general criticisms that don’t engage meaningfully with any of my arguments or musings, let alone steel man them.