thomblake comments on Rationality Quotes March 2012 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Thomas 03 March 2012 08:04AM

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Comment author: thomblake 10 March 2012 05:50:09PM -1 points [-]

And this sort of thing is why some of us think all this 'status' talk is harmful.

Comment author: Desrtopa 10 March 2012 05:57:28PM 7 points [-]

It doesn't go away if you stop talking about it.

Personally, I think Robin Hanson tends to treat status as a hammer that turns all issues into nails; it's certainly possible to overuse a perspective for analyzing social interaction. But that doesn't mean that there aren't cases where you can only get a meaningful picture of social actions by taking it into consideration.

Comment author: Ezekiel 10 March 2012 07:29:29PM 3 points [-]

Nowadays, I can ask a question of the entire WEIRD world without losing any status. There are still some that just aren't worth wasting my time on. For example: Is the moon actually a moose?

Comment author: thomblake 11 March 2012 04:52:38AM 1 point [-]

It doesn't go away if you stop talking about it.

No, but worrying about status can keep you from getting answers to your 'stupid' questions.

This is partly why nerds have largely internalized the "there are no stupid questions" rule. See Obvious Answers to Simple Questions by isaacs of npm fame.