Enye-word’s comment is witty, certainly, but “this is going to take a while to explain” and “systematically underestimated inferential distances” aren’t the same thing. Similar yes, but there’s a difference between something taking a while to explain, while addressing X so you can explain Y which is a prerequisite for talking about Z, while your interlocutor may not understand why you’re not just talking about Z, and something just taking a while to explain!
For example, if someone asked me about transhumanism, I might have to explain why immortality looks biologically possible, and how reversal tests work so we’re not just stuck with the “death gives meaning to life” intuition, and the possibility of mind uploading to avoid a Malthusian catastrophe, and the evidence for minds being a function of information such that uploading looks even remotely plausible… Misunderstandings are all but guaranteed. But if someone asked me about the plot of Game of Thrones in detail, there would be far less chance of misunderstanding, even if it took longer to explain.
Also, motivation and “tactile ambition” aren’t the same thing either. Tactile ambition sounds like ambition to do a specific thing, rather than to just “do well” in an ill-defined way. Someone might be very motivated to save money, for instance, and spend a lot of time and energy looking for ways to do so, yet not hit on a specific strategy and thus never develop a related tactile ambition. Or someone might have a specific ambition to save money by eating cheaply, as in the Mr. Money Mustache example, yet find themselves unmotivated and constantly ordering (relatively expensive) pizza.
That said, why “tactile ambition” rather than something like “specific ambition”?
Enye-word’s comment is witty, certainly, but “this is going to take a while to explain” and “systematically underestimated inferential distances” aren’t the same thing. Similar yes, but there’s a difference between something taking a while to explain, while addressing X so you can explain Y which is a prerequisite for talking about Z, while your interlocutor may not understand why you’re not just talking about Z, and something just taking a while to explain!
For example, if someone asked me about transhumanism, I might have to explain why immortality looks biologically possible, and how reversal tests work so we’re not just stuck with the “death gives meaning to life” intuition, and the possibility of mind uploading to avoid a Malthusian catastrophe, and the evidence for minds being a function of information such that uploading looks even remotely plausible… Misunderstandings are all but guaranteed. But if someone asked me about the plot of Game of Thrones in detail, there would be far less chance of misunderstanding, even if it took longer to explain.
Also, motivation and “tactile ambition” aren’t the same thing either. Tactile ambition sounds like ambition to do a specific thing, rather than to just “do well” in an ill-defined way. Someone might be very motivated to save money, for instance, and spend a lot of time and energy looking for ways to do so, yet not hit on a specific strategy and thus never develop a related tactile ambition. Or someone might have a specific ambition to save money by eating cheaply, as in the Mr. Money Mustache example, yet find themselves unmotivated and constantly ordering (relatively expensive) pizza.
That said, why “tactile ambition” rather than something like “specific ambition”?