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Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on High Status and Stupidity: Why? - Less Wrong
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I'm far from convinced that niceness correlates with status (or stupidity). For every Gandalf, there is a Stalin.
In fact, wait a minute! Gandalf is a fictional character. And indeed, though history is full of Stalins, I'm actually having trouble thinking of very many real-life Gandalfs. There are of course plenty of legends about wise, kind rulers; but it seems that very few actual historical (as opposed to fictional) high-status people have had this "Gandalf" disposition you speak of.
So really, is this your true rejection of niceness?
I think I must have been unclear on this point. What I am rejecting is conformity to an image that exists in other people's minds; I am refusing to behave in accordance with the stereotyped expectations of people who do assign me high status. So Gandalf, in fact, is an appropriate illustration, because if status-seeking makes you behave like the Tolkien character that people expect you to be, that could also make you stupid. (Similarly if you behave like Frodo, i.e., never noticing the fact that you're a hero.)
Isn't Sam the hero?
I shan't deny that Sam is a hero, though his unawareness of the fact is three times worse than Frodo's.