DanielVarga comments on The Importance of Self-Doubt - Less Wrong

23 Post author: multifoliaterose 19 August 2010 10:47PM

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Comment author: ciphergoth 20 August 2010 05:58:03AM 6 points [-]

if someone really believes that he is literally saving the world, then he can be sure that he has a minor personality disorder, regardless of whether he will eventually save the world or not.

Stanislav Petrov had this disorder? In thinking he was making the world a safer place, Gorbachev had this disorder? It seems a stretch to me to diagnose a personality disorder based on an accurate view of the world.

Comment author: DanielVarga 20 August 2010 06:55:02AM *  3 points [-]

Gorbachev was leading an actual superpower, so his case is not very relevant in a psychological analysis of grandiosity. At the time of the famous incident, Petrov was too busy to think about his status as a world-savior. And it is not very relevant here what he believed after saving the world.

It seems a stretch to me to diagnose a personality disorder based on an accurate view of the world.

I didn't mean to talk about an accurate view of the world. I meant to talk about a disputed belief about a future outcome. I am not interested in the few minutes while Petrov may had the accurate view that he is currently saving the world.