Eliezer is certainly correct that our real goal is to make optimal decisions and perform optimal actions, regardless of how different they are from those of the herd. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore information about our conformity or non-conformity. It’s often important.
Consider the hawk-dove game. If you’re in a group of animals who randomly bump into each other and compete for territory, the minority strategy is the optimal strategy. If all your peers are cowards, you can completely dominate them by showing some fang. Or if your peers follow the “never back down, always fight to the death” strategy, you should be a coward until they’ve killed each other off. Non-conformity is a valid goal (or subgoal, at least).
On the other hand, in situations with networks effects, you want to be a conformist. If you’re selling your widget on Bob’s Auction Site, which has 20 users, instead of eBay, your originality is simply stupid.
Eliezer is certainly correct that our real goal is to make optimal decisions and perform optimal actions, regardless of how different they are from those of the herd. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore information about our conformity or non-conformity. It’s often important.
Consider the hawk-dove game. If you’re in a group of animals who randomly bump into each other and compete for territory, the minority strategy is the optimal strategy. If all your peers are cowards, you can completely dominate them by showing some fang. Or if your peers follow the “never back down, always fight to the death” strategy, you should be a coward until they’ve killed each other off. Non-conformity is a valid goal (or subgoal, at least).
On the other hand, in situations with networks effects, you want to be a conformist. If you’re selling your widget on Bob’s Auction Site, which has 20 users, instead of eBay, your originality is simply stupid.