Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on You're Calling *Who* A Cult Leader? - Less Wrong

45 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 22 March 2009 06:57AM

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Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 22 March 2009 08:25:36AM 3 points [-]

You don't feel yourself to be in status competition with Hofstadter do you? Or E.T. Jaynes, for that matter. Think about effusively praising Nick Bostrom as the last best hope for the survival of humane values, instead.

Point taken. But that example isn't generic status competition, it's role competition. Are so many people calling PG a cult leader really in role competition with him? For what? Are there so many commenters at this site in role competition with me? I think you have a valid point here about a factor that would make admiration directed at another seem bad, but can it plausibly be that particular factor which is at work here?

(Edited to make clear the difference between status competition and role competition.)

Comment author: CarlShulman 22 March 2009 08:31:44AM 6 points [-]

They're socially engaged with him and his web community. Status competition doesn't have to mean preparation for direct overthrow, it can also mean efforts to reduce the size of status gaps relative to current superiors. Demonstrating or admitting inferiority to someone in the immediate social hierarchy pushes the low lower, while successfully tearing down a superior raises the tearer while lowering the torn, even if only marginally.

Comment author: topynate 22 March 2009 08:35:52AM 4 points [-]

Great point, and I think that the "competition", if there is competition, isn't with PG or EY but with everyone else.

Comment author: ciphergoth 22 March 2009 11:04:03AM 5 points [-]

There is an essay about this by Pavel Curtis, creator of LambdaMOO - he would frequently find that newcomers would respond to his perceived status by being exaggeratedly rude to his character, showing off that they were prepared to stand up to the Man, so long as of course they could do it in perfect safety under the cover of anonymity.

Comment author: ciphergoth 03 August 2011 11:21:56AM *  4 points [-]

Found it: Mudding: Social Phenomena in Text-Based Virtual Realities

Most players on LambdaMOO, for example, upon first encountering my wizard player, treat me with almost exaggerated deference and respect. I am frequently called 'sir' and players often apologize for 'wasting' my time. A significant minority, however, appear to go to great lengths to prove that they are not impressed by my office or power, speaking to me quite bluntly and making demands that I assist them with their problems using the system, sometimes to the point of rudeness.

Comment author: Rain 03 August 2011 04:31:38PM *  0 points [-]

'Exagerrated rudeness' could also be a product of the greater internet dickwad theory.

Attitudes toward MUD wiz teams are also part politics, since the leaders are often dictators of the local environment.

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