There are a couple reasons I think this is important:
Many people in the rationalsphere tend towards being the sort of person who takes rules more seriously (and thus are more likely to feel betrayed). People seem to vary a lot in how much they care about privacy. By default, I don’t actually care about privacy that much, but I interact with people who do, and thinking through this more seriously was necessary for me to not inadvertently leave them feeling betrayed.
The status quo of “there’s an approximate norm that most people know” creates a world of plausible deniability, where it seems like everything is mostly working, up until someone decides they were harmed by a secret they think you leaked, and then retroactively leverage the ambiguity into a political weapon against you. (This is precisely the sort of game neurotypical people do play, and I think it’s bad)
I honestly just live in social circles where some people are earnestly trying to do big important things, where the line between propriety information and random gossip is blurrier. It is actually important to keep some secrets. Other secrets might or might not be more important than usual gossip, but the ambiguity makes people’s personal lives worse.
It makes sense that large companies like Boeing actually have formal policies and training here. Many smaller and even mid-sized companies don’t. In particular, small grass roots community organizations might not feel like they need to, but it’s actually fairly important.
(There’s a good chance that if you don’t find yourself running into problems here, this post isn’t meant for you. But it’s meant for a large chunk of my social circle)
#2 is a big deal. In many social circles, gossip is among the primary entertainments. It’s SIMULTANEOUSLY a loyalty test, to be used against you as needed, AND a source of status, to elevate the secret-tellers. My general advice in such groups is to go ahead and lose the status, exit or down-value that group membership, and get on with your life.
I think I am actually pretty neurotypical.
There are a couple reasons I think this is important:
Many people in the rationalsphere tend towards being the sort of person who takes rules more seriously (and thus are more likely to feel betrayed). People seem to vary a lot in how much they care about privacy. By default, I don’t actually care about privacy that much, but I interact with people who do, and thinking through this more seriously was necessary for me to not inadvertently leave them feeling betrayed.
The status quo of “there’s an approximate norm that most people know” creates a world of plausible deniability, where it seems like everything is mostly working, up until someone decides they were harmed by a secret they think you leaked, and then retroactively leverage the ambiguity into a political weapon against you. (This is precisely the sort of game neurotypical people do play, and I think it’s bad)
I honestly just live in social circles where some people are earnestly trying to do big important things, where the line between propriety information and random gossip is blurrier. It is actually important to keep some secrets. Other secrets might or might not be more important than usual gossip, but the ambiguity makes people’s personal lives worse.
It makes sense that large companies like Boeing actually have formal policies and training here. Many smaller and even mid-sized companies don’t. In particular, small grass roots community organizations might not feel like they need to, but it’s actually fairly important.
(There’s a good chance that if you don’t find yourself running into problems here, this post isn’t meant for you. But it’s meant for a large chunk of my social circle)
#2 is a big deal. In many social circles, gossip is among the primary entertainments. It’s SIMULTANEOUSLY a loyalty test, to be used against you as needed, AND a source of status, to elevate the secret-tellers. My general advice in such groups is to go ahead and lose the status, exit or down-value that group membership, and get on with your life.