Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on The Importance of Self-Doubt - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (726)
The very fate of the universe, potentially. Purely hypothetically and for the sake of the discussion:
I cannot emphasise how much this is only a reply to the literal question cousin_it asked and no endorsement or denial of any of the above claims as they relate to persons real or imagined. For example it may have been good if Frodo was arrogant enough to piss off Aragorn. He may cracked it, taken the ring from Frodo and given it to Arwen. Arwen was crazy enough to give up the immortality she already had and so would be as good a candidate as any for being able to ditch a ring, without being completely useless for basically all purposes.
Er... I can't help but notice a certain humor in the idea that it's terrible if I'm self-deluded about my own importance because that means I might destroy the world.
Yes, there is is a certain humor. But I hope you did read the dot points and followed the reasoning. It, among other things, suggests a potential benefit of criticism such as multi's aside from hypothetical benefits of discrediting you should it have been the case that you were not, in fact, competent.
It's some sort of mutant version of "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you".