In the post you mention Epistemic Daddies, mostly describing them as sources that are deferred to for object-level information.
I’d say there is also a group of people who seek Epistemic Mommies. People looking for emotional assurance that they’re on the right path and their contribution to the field is meaningful; for assurance that making mistakes in reasoning is okay; for someone to do the annoying chores of epistemic hygiene so they can make the big conclusions; for a push to celebrate their successes and show them off to others; etc.
Ultimately both are ultimately about deferring to others (Epistemic Parents?) for information, but Epistemic Mommies are deferred to for procedural information. Givewell makes for a tempting Epistemic Daddy, but Lesswrong sequences make for a tempting Epistemic Mommy.
Your advice is pretty applicable to both, but I feel like the generalization makes it easier to catch more examples of unhealthy epistemic deference.
I would say Epistemic Daddies are deferred to, for action and strategy, although sometimes with a gloss of giving object level information. But I think you’re right that there’s a distinction between “giving you strategy” and “telling you your current strategy is so good it’s going right on the fridge”, and Daddy/Mommy is a decent split for that.
In the post you mention Epistemic Daddies, mostly describing them as sources that are deferred to for object-level information.
I’d say there is also a group of people who seek Epistemic Mommies. People looking for emotional assurance that they’re on the right path and their contribution to the field is meaningful; for assurance that making mistakes in reasoning is okay; for someone to do the annoying chores of epistemic hygiene so they can make the big conclusions; for a push to celebrate their successes and show them off to others; etc.
Ultimately both are ultimately about deferring to others (Epistemic Parents?) for information, but Epistemic Mommies are deferred to for procedural information. Givewell makes for a tempting Epistemic Daddy, but Lesswrong sequences make for a tempting Epistemic Mommy.
Your advice is pretty applicable to both, but I feel like the generalization makes it easier to catch more examples of unhealthy epistemic deference.
I would say Epistemic Daddies are deferred to, for action and strategy, although sometimes with a gloss of giving object level information. But I think you’re right that there’s a distinction between “giving you strategy” and “telling you your current strategy is so good it’s going right on the fridge”, and Daddy/Mommy is a decent split for that.