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TheOtherDave comments on The curse of identity - Less Wrong
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I've been somewhat helped by simply realizing the problem. For example, recently I was struggling with wanting to study a lot of math and mathy AI, because that's the field that my brain has labeled the most prestigious (mostly as a result of reading Eliezer et al.). When I realized that I had been aiming at something that I felt was prestigious, not something that was actually my comparative advantage, it felt like a burden was lifted from my shoulders. I realized that I could actually take easier courses, and thereby manage to finish my Master's degree.
My understanding is the quote: "It's better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond." is substantially related to status.
If I try to apply it to your situation to find isomorphisms, I find a lot:
Rather than being a small fish(struggling with math) in a big pond(Eliezer et al.), you want to be the big fish(actually my comparative advantage) in the small pond(take easier courses.)
Considering this, are you sure you've left the status framework? If so, why?
(Edited after comment from TheOtherDave for brevity.)
...but not edit.
(Edited after comment from pjeby for brevity.)
I suppose I could simplify this to "There are layers of status seeking. So it's very easy to think you aren't making a Status0 play, because you are making a Status1 play, and this can recurse easily to Status2, Status3, or Status4 without conscious awareness."
FWIW, that sense of "this sounds insane when I say it explicitly but feels natural if I don't think about it" is an experience I often have when I am becoming aware of my real motives and they turn out to conflict with preconceived ideas I have about myself or the world. Usually, either the awareness or the preconceived ideas tend to fade away pretty quickly. (I endorse the latter far more than the former.)
Uh, no. That is so far off from what I said that it's not even on the same planet.
See, "good" and "hypocrite" are just more status labels. ;-)
What I was saying is, if you acknowledge your actual goals, you might have a better chance of sorting out conflicts in them. Nowhere does labeling yourself (or the goals) good or bad come into it. In fact, in the discussion on solutions, I explicitly pointed out that getting rid of such labels is often quite useful.
And I most definitely did not label anyone's goals hypocritical or advise them to aspire to goodness. In fact, I said that the original questioner's behavior may well have been optimal, given their apparent goals, provided that they didn't think too much about it.
In much the same way that your comment would've been more workable for you, had you not thought too deeply about it. ;-)
Upon additionaI retrospection, (and after lunch) I agree. I'll edit those down to the more workable parts.
Since there doesn't appear to be a way to do partial strikethrough, I guess I can just save the removed/incomplete parts in a text file if for some reason anyone really wants to know the original in the near future.