MatthewB comments on High Status and Stupidity: Why? - Less Wrong

34 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 12 January 2010 04:36PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (142)

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: MatthewB 12 January 2010 04:57:53PM 1 point [-]

High-Status relative to what/whom?

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 12 January 2010 07:43:55PM 2 points [-]

High status in this case is a state of mind, possibly even a matter of raw neurochemistry. So for our purposes it's an absolute state of self-perception, not a relative state that would be computed differently if we changed other people but held the local neurochemistry constant.

Comment author: MatthewB 12 January 2010 09:42:46PM 6 points [-]

Are you saying that a High-Status person necessarily thinks that they are high-status?

Or, that a low status person may delude themselves in a high-status position?

One of the things I was thinking was that you, Eliezer, are very much a high-status person in regards to many others in the Singularity Crowd. You may not be high-status in terms of wealth, or power, yet you are definitely a person to whom others seek to curry favor from (Just look at the crowds you draw at the events where I have seen you).

I've made it a matter of personal interest to investigate how status influences our actions and reactions, and I would say that you get a high amount of deference from others. That tends to make you a person of high-status.

Now, you may not have the raw-neurochemistry of a person who is a born leader, yet there you are, with a number of people looking to you for advice, conversation and opinion.

Comment author: ciphergoth 13 January 2010 12:03:21AM *  0 points [-]

If you're saying that people are less smart when thinking of themselves as high status, it sounds like there will already be experiments on that.

Comment author: MendelSchmiedekamp 12 January 2010 07:00:08PM 2 points [-]

This should not be underestimated as an issue. Status as we use it here and at overcoming bias tends to be simplified into something not unlike a monetary model.

It is possible to try to treat things like status reductively, but in the current discussion it will hopefully suffice to characterize it with more nuance than "social wealth".