Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on Less Wrong: Open Thread, September 2010 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: matt 01 September 2010 01:40AM

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Comment author: Will_Newsome 03 September 2010 11:02:19AM *  10 points [-]

I want to write a post about an... emotion, or pattern of looking at the world, that I have found rather harmful to my rationality in the past. The closest thing I've found is 'indignation', defined at Wiktionary as "An anger aroused by something perceived as an indignity, notably an offense or injustice." The thing is, I wouldn't consider the emotion I feel to be 'anger'. It's more like 'the feeling of injustice' in its own right, without the anger part. Frustration, maybe. Is there a word that means 'frustration aroused by a perceived indignity, notably an offense or injustice'? Like, perhaps the emotion you may feel when you think about how pretty much no one in the world or no one you talk to seems to care about existential risks. Not that you should feel the emotion, or whatever it is, that I'm trying to describe -- in the post I'll argue that you should try not to -- but perhaps there is a name for it? Anyone have any ideas? Should I just use 'indignation' and then define what I mean in the first few sentences? Should I use 'adjective indignation'? If so, which adjective? Thanks for any input.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 03 September 2010 07:07:18PM 5 points [-]

Sounds related to the failure class I call "living in the should-universe".

Comment author: Will_Newsome 03 September 2010 10:51:03PM *  3 points [-]

It seems to be a pretty common and easily corrected failure mode. Maybe you could write a post about it? I'm sure you have lots of useful cached thoughts on the matter.

Added: Ah, I'd thought you'd just talked about it at LW meetups, but a Google search reveals that the theme is also in Above-Average AI Scientists and Points of Departure.