Incorrect comments on Social status hacks from The Improv Wiki - Less Wrong

41 Post author: lsparrish 21 March 2012 02:56AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (43)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Incorrect 28 March 2012 10:42:18PM 1 point [-]

People who habitually make falsely inflated status signals and imagine they are being taken seriously are a known thing. They are called "buffoons", "blowhards", "charlatans", "impostors", "humbugs", "phoneys", "all hat and no knickers", and with a thesaurus I might double the list.

You mean the ones who are bad at it.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 29 March 2012 08:08:26AM *  3 points [-]

We're drifting towards fully general counterarguments here. "There are perfect liars everywhere! How could you ever know there aren't?" "Finding no evidence for the conspiracy is proof of the conspiracy!"

In reality, liars have a more difficult job than unmaskers. The only person Dilbert's boss is deceiving is himself (and maybe his higher-ups, who I've never seen shown in the strip). All of his underlings know his real character. You just have to ask, "What has this person done?" And, of course, look for the answer.

Comment author: Incorrect 29 March 2012 08:00:36PM 0 points [-]

They have an easy job if they piggyback off of lies people already believe. Like say, faith healers.

Comment author: wedrifid 29 March 2012 01:35:32PM 0 points [-]

The only person Dilbert's boss is deceiving is himself (and maybe his higher-ups, who I've never seen shown in the strip).

They are there all the time. Look for a guy with a particularly elongated head. Often talking to dogbert.