From my perspective, if you are in a place of prestige and you want to avoid damage to your image, hiding your quirks is maximizes the chance that they will be discovered in a way that precludes you controlling the how it is released. If image malpractice is the issue, keeping this in the open is an inoculation against more damaging future revelation. The trade-off is that you may lose credibility up front. Given EY’s eschewing of the “normal” routes to academic success, and the profound strangeness that a some of the ideas we take for granted have at first blush to anyone who hasn’t read the sequences, I don’t thing OK cupid is doing much damage.
Finally, I noticed when I first read this that the article gave me the squicks. In trying to compare the feeling to a known quantity, I realized it was analogous to when my religious parents would scandalously tell me of a couple who are “shacking up”. The feeling of someone sharing psudo-private information in a way that does not explicitly make a value judgement, certainly does implicitly. I rather doubt that was your intention, however, you might want to be aware of the reaction, if it was not intended.
Finally, I noticed when I first read this that the article gave me the squicks. In trying to compare the feeling to a known quantity, I realized it was analogous to when my religious parents would scandalously tell me of a couple who are “shacking up”.
Very good, then raise your right hand and repeat after me: “I hold the right to conduct sexual activities in any way without being judged to be a sacred value. I will gladly condemn [not merely oppose; “squick” is a stronger emotional reaction than that] anyone who criticizes, explicitly or implicitly, any expression of voluntary sexuality. This sacred value overrides any consequentialist concern for actually producing more effective rationalists.”
This response is such a strawman! No one’s arguing that “the right to conduct sexual activities in any way without being judged” is a “sacred value” that “overrides any consequentialist concern for actually producing more effective rationalists.” If every other post by Eliezer made specific, detailed reference to his dalmatian fetish, or if SIAI had a specific section of their website listing the fetishes and relationship styles of all their members, then yes, that would likely be problematic—because it would be seriously, actually distracting from important rationality work.
But that situation is miles away from one person’s private dating profile listing some relatively harmless fetishes that only surprise people because we don’t usually talk about that sort of thing publicly. There’s just no reason to think that this is the serious concern you’re making it out to be. Frankly, I’d say that posting and arguing about it here is likely to do (or has already done) more damage than the profile on its own was capable of. Seriously, look at the comments and the downvotes you’re getting, and consider that maybe this isn’t a productive fight to be having. Just let it go.
My apologies if you felt I was handing out condemnation- it was not my intent at all. As is said, I did not think the reaction I had was the reaction you were aiming for. While upon consideration I don’t think there is a valid harm to the OK Cupid posting, I was in no way attempting to say we shouldn’t talk about it. I simply was noting that if persuasion is what you are after, there may be a better approach that does not trigger the squick feeling. It is also possible that I am a statistical anomaly in this (although I would say that the number of upvotes I have received is probably evidence to the contrary), and I need to re-calibrate somewhere. In any case, it seems I too need to work on my delivery, as my intended message was not accurately received. I was in competitive debate for many years, and have long since separated my dislike of an argument for my feelings of the person- one of my faults is that I tend to common mind fallacy that trait to everyone, and then be surprised when someone sees my evaluation of what they are saying as a reflection on them as a person as opposed to an evaluation of their argument.
From my perspective, if you are in a place of prestige and you want to avoid damage to your image, hiding your quirks is maximizes the chance that they will be discovered in a way that precludes you controlling the how it is released. If image malpractice is the issue, keeping this in the open is an inoculation against more damaging future revelation. The trade-off is that you may lose credibility up front. Given EY’s eschewing of the “normal” routes to academic success, and the profound strangeness that a some of the ideas we take for granted have at first blush to anyone who hasn’t read the sequences, I don’t thing OK cupid is doing much damage.
Finally, I noticed when I first read this that the article gave me the squicks. In trying to compare the feeling to a known quantity, I realized it was analogous to when my religious parents would scandalously tell me of a couple who are “shacking up”. The feeling of someone sharing psudo-private information in a way that does not explicitly make a value judgement, certainly does implicitly. I rather doubt that was your intention, however, you might want to be aware of the reaction, if it was not intended.
tl,dr; EY’s just this guy, you know?
Very good, then raise your right hand and repeat after me: “I hold the right to conduct sexual activities in any way without being judged to be a sacred value. I will gladly condemn [not merely oppose; “squick” is a stronger emotional reaction than that] anyone who criticizes, explicitly or implicitly, any expression of voluntary sexuality. This sacred value overrides any consequentialist concern for actually producing more effective rationalists.”
This response is such a strawman! No one’s arguing that “the right to conduct sexual activities in any way without being judged” is a “sacred value” that “overrides any consequentialist concern for actually producing more effective rationalists.” If every other post by Eliezer made specific, detailed reference to his dalmatian fetish, or if SIAI had a specific section of their website listing the fetishes and relationship styles of all their members, then yes, that would likely be problematic—because it would be seriously, actually distracting from important rationality work.
But that situation is miles away from one person’s private dating profile listing some relatively harmless fetishes that only surprise people because we don’t usually talk about that sort of thing publicly. There’s just no reason to think that this is the serious concern you’re making it out to be. Frankly, I’d say that posting and arguing about it here is likely to do (or has already done) more damage than the profile on its own was capable of. Seriously, look at the comments and the downvotes you’re getting, and consider that maybe this isn’t a productive fight to be having. Just let it go.
My apologies if you felt I was handing out condemnation- it was not my intent at all. As is said, I did not think the reaction I had was the reaction you were aiming for. While upon consideration I don’t think there is a valid harm to the OK Cupid posting, I was in no way attempting to say we shouldn’t talk about it. I simply was noting that if persuasion is what you are after, there may be a better approach that does not trigger the squick feeling. It is also possible that I am a statistical anomaly in this (although I would say that the number of upvotes I have received is probably evidence to the contrary), and I need to re-calibrate somewhere. In any case, it seems I too need to work on my delivery, as my intended message was not accurately received. I was in competitive debate for many years, and have long since separated my dislike of an argument for my feelings of the person- one of my faults is that I tend to common mind fallacy that trait to everyone, and then be surprised when someone sees my evaluation of what they are saying as a reflection on them as a person as opposed to an evaluation of their argument.