Let’s look at why Wrongbot actually included the “Unknown Knowns” part. Was it an attempt to sneak in psychological influence in favour of his preferred sexual pattern or was it because he wasn’t secure in his right to post on this topic and was trying to justify it by framing it as a cognitive bias? I suspect the later. That reduces the ‘dark’ rating I give it considerably (but raised the ‘wussiness’ rating commensurately.)
I obviously have an interest in the answer to this question, so please keep that in mind.
Your latter suggestion as to my intentions is much closer to the truth (and you may be entirely right and I may be rationalizing). Because I’m so new to this community, I was certainly trying to avoid posting something that looked inappropriate. This is a specific issue that I think rationalists should consider regardless of framing, and I won’t deny that to that end I attempted to present it in the best light possible.
The choice of frame wasn’t arbitrary, though. My writing process for the post basically involved explaining why considering alternatives to monogamy was a good idea, and then noticing that relationship style was an example of a broader problem which I hadn’t seen described on LessWrong, and that this observation would bring the post more in line with other content I’d seen on the site. Then I went through about five more drafts and hit submit.
I honestly believe that conformity is orthogonal to truth; that other people believe something makes it no more or less true (though it may provide evidence as to the thing’s truth, if those other people are particularly trustworthy or untrustworthy). The comments above and elsewhere indicate that I was not sufficiently clear in communicating that in my original post, and I would be grateful to anyone who suggested how I could have been more clear.
Insulting or not, you had a point. And I try very hard to appreciate well-intentioned criticism, so don’t worry about it.
Ahh, I think I have conveyed that I would be reluctant to give insult, which isn’t the case. Insulting people is something that is gives negative terminal value in my preferences but it is something I am comfortable with as an instrumental means. It happens to be the case that you have the maturity to handle criticism, you do not have an emotional vulnerability there. Curiously, I would be more inclined to make a call of ‘wussiness!’ if I did think that you had an insecurity there, a button that could be pushed. That would be exactly the case where such stimulus would provoke the most positive influence. The reaction to having that button pushed simultaneously strengthens against the vulnerability to criticism and causes a confrontation of and improvement in the trait they are insecure about.
Pardon the tangent into abstract observations on human behavior and development processes. The subject fascinates me.
Negative? *blink* That possibility didn’t even occur to me. I thought the descriptive component rather obvious and the normative component neutral (commensurate transfer of any ‘negative’ component from one label to another.) Curious.
Now, I know with some confidence that calling out ‘wussiness’ is extremely effective in discouraging future examples. I am almost as confident that this applies even if me making the call is met with disapproval. I have collected a significant sample of cases of calling things wussy (or context appropriate alternatives) with intended positive influence.
With no replies except mine (as of this edit) I can delete my comment without losing face. The question I must ask myself is whether I am willing to potentially sacrifice status in order to make this influence. That question is easy, which gives a strong signal of the degree to which I consider ‘wussiness’ my enemy!
Now, I know with some confidence that calling out ‘wussiness’ is extremely effective in discouraging future examples.
I’m a little confused. What is it you’re trying to discourage? People framing posts in terms of cognitive biases? This seems like something we’d want, and in fact I suggested that WrongBot frame the post in a more general way.
Let’s look at why Wrongbot actually included the “Unknown Knowns” part. Was it an attempt to sneak in psychological influence in favour of his preferred sexual pattern or was it because he wasn’t secure in his right to post on this topic and was trying to justify it by framing it as a cognitive bias? I suspect the later. That reduces the ‘dark’ rating I give it considerably (but raised the ‘wussiness’ rating commensurately.)
I obviously have an interest in the answer to this question, so please keep that in mind.
Your latter suggestion as to my intentions is much closer to the truth (and you may be entirely right and I may be rationalizing). Because I’m so new to this community, I was certainly trying to avoid posting something that looked inappropriate. This is a specific issue that I think rationalists should consider regardless of framing, and I won’t deny that to that end I attempted to present it in the best light possible.
The choice of frame wasn’t arbitrary, though. My writing process for the post basically involved explaining why considering alternatives to monogamy was a good idea, and then noticing that relationship style was an example of a broader problem which I hadn’t seen described on LessWrong, and that this observation would bring the post more in line with other content I’d seen on the site. Then I went through about five more drafts and hit submit.
I honestly believe that conformity is orthogonal to truth; that other people believe something makes it no more or less true (though it may provide evidence as to the thing’s truth, if those other people are particularly trustworthy or untrustworthy). The comments above and elsewhere indicate that I was not sufficiently clear in communicating that in my original post, and I would be grateful to anyone who suggested how I could have been more clear.
Thankyou for making a well reasoned and self reflective explanation in response to criticism what could quite reasonably be considered insulting.
Insulting or not, you had a point. And I try very hard to appreciate well-intentioned criticism, so don’t worry about it.
Ahh, I think I have conveyed that I would be reluctant to give insult, which isn’t the case. Insulting people is something that is gives negative terminal value in my preferences but it is something I am comfortable with as an instrumental means. It happens to be the case that you have the maturity to handle criticism, you do not have an emotional vulnerability there. Curiously, I would be more inclined to make a call of ‘wussiness!’ if I did think that you had an insecurity there, a button that could be pushed. That would be exactly the case where such stimulus would provoke the most positive influence. The reaction to having that button pushed simultaneously strengthens against the vulnerability to criticism and causes a confrontation of and improvement in the trait they are insecure about.
Pardon the tangent into abstract observations on human behavior and development processes. The subject fascinates me.
Negative? *blink* That possibility didn’t even occur to me. I thought the descriptive component rather obvious and the normative component neutral (commensurate transfer of any ‘negative’ component from one label to another.) Curious.
Now, I know with some confidence that calling out ‘wussiness’ is extremely effective in discouraging future examples. I am almost as confident that this applies even if me making the call is met with disapproval. I have collected a significant sample of cases of calling things wussy (or context appropriate alternatives) with intended positive influence.
With no replies except mine (as of this edit) I can delete my comment without losing face. The question I must ask myself is whether I am willing to potentially sacrifice status in order to make this influence. That question is easy, which gives a strong signal of the degree to which I consider ‘wussiness’ my enemy!
I’m a little confused. What is it you’re trying to discourage? People framing posts in terms of cognitive biases? This seems like something we’d want, and in fact I suggested that WrongBot frame the post in a more general way.