This is a problem when you really hate self-aggrandizement and aggrandizing self-deception and get stuck living in a brain made entirely of both. My “stop pretending (or believing) that you’re smarter/better/more knowledgeable than you are, jackass” tripwire trips a lot more often than it used to.
So fix it. Learn more, think more, do more, be more. Humility doesn’t save worlds, and you can’t really believe in your own worthlessness. Instead, believe in becoming the person whom your brain believes you to be.
Clarification: I don’t believe I’m worthless. But there’s still frequently a disparity between the worth I catch myself trying to signal and the worth I (think I) actually have. Having worth > 0 doesn’t make that less objectionable.
I do tend to give up on the “becoming” part as often as not, but I don’t think I do worse than average in that regard. Average does suck, though.
paper-machine wants to quote you, eli. “Why are you still making excuses not to be awesome?” would have made a pretty good quote, if only you hadn’t written it on Less Wrong.
So fix it. Learn more, think more, do more, be more. Humility doesn’t save worlds, and you can’t really believe in your own worthlessness. Instead, believe in becoming the person whom your brain believes you to be.
Clarification: I don’t believe I’m worthless. But there’s still frequently a disparity between the worth I catch myself trying to signal and the worth I (think I) actually have. Having worth > 0 doesn’t make that less objectionable.
I do tend to give up on the “becoming” part as often as not, but I don’t think I do worse than average in that regard. Average does suck, though.
Why are you still making excuses not to be awesome?
Pity we can’t self quote in the quote thread.
Huh? You’ve said something you want to quote? But this isn’t the quotes thread...
paper-machine wants to quote you, eli. “Why are you still making excuses not to be awesome?” would have made a pretty good quote, if only you hadn’t written it on Less Wrong.
Well that’s nice of him.