This makes me think of Goodhart’s Law. It’s as if “love” is a rule to “maximize X.” Many times, it may be that what we want is not to “maximize X,” but to “increase X in certain circumstances,” which we discover by trying to maximize X and observing the results. Over a long period of time, we discover the specific contexts in which a certain level of X is appropriate. Appreciation of anti-X comes naturally from applying a general rule to maximize X in new contexts where that is not a good approach.
There are other, more boring explanations as well:
The person who loves saunas and jumping in ice water may love extremes of temperature; they may also love to jump in ice water, and then need to warm up afterward in the sauna so that they don’t die of hypothermia.
The person who craves danger but also obsesses over safety mechanisms is simply concerned with maximizing their adrenaline rush.
This makes me think of Goodhart’s Law. It’s as if “love” is a rule to “maximize X.” Many times, it may be that what we want is not to “maximize X,” but to “increase X in certain circumstances,” which we discover by trying to maximize X and observing the results. Over a long period of time, we discover the specific contexts in which a certain level of X is appropriate. Appreciation of anti-X comes naturally from applying a general rule to maximize X in new contexts where that is not a good approach.
There are other, more boring explanations as well:
The person who loves saunas and jumping in ice water may love extremes of temperature; they may also love to jump in ice water, and then need to warm up afterward in the sauna so that they don’t die of hypothermia.
The person who craves danger but also obsesses over safety mechanisms is simply concerned with maximizing their adrenaline rush.