Drahflow comments on Least Signaling Activities? - Less Wrong

27 Post author: RobinHanson 22 May 2009 02:46AM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Golovin 22 May 2009 07:07:16AM *  0 points [-]

My best candidates:

  • Urination / defecation.
  • Vomiting.
  • Popping pimples.
  • Nose-picking.
  • Menstrual hygiene (female-specific.)
  • Visiting an urologist, especially to treat impotence (male-specific.) Edit: scratch that. "Not visiting an urologist to treat impotence" is definitely signaling, so this was an example of a negative-signaling activity (for the lack of a better term), and doesn't belong here.

To a lesser degree:

  • Brushing one's teeth (though "high-quality" dental hygiene habits such as daily flossing can be used to signal that "I always have a fresh breath, so come kiss me!".)
  • A solitary walk in a park / nature (can be used to signal that "I dislike crowded places" and "I am of contemplative nature".)
Comment author: Drahflow 22 May 2009 11:54:13AM 1 point [-]

Solitary walks (if truly solitary) should not be usable for signaling, at least not directly.

What you might get from it with respect to signaling, is authentic experience you can later use while talking about solitary walks and thereby signaling.

But I feel something else might be at work as well. I claim (although I have only anecdotical evidence) that one's brain also responds to signals from oneself, i.e. by observing that you do solitary walks, you start to believe that you are the kind of person doing solitary walks, thereby increasing your chances of successfully convincing others that you are the kind of person doing solitary walks.

Comment author: Vladimir_Golovin 22 May 2009 11:58:44AM *  1 point [-]

What you might get from it with respect to signaling, is authentic experience you can later use while talking about solitary walks and thereby signaling.

Talking is not necessary -- if people know (by observing you directly or by any other means) that you take solitary walks, this is already a signal.

So, to turn such a walk into a pure 100% non-signaling activity, you'll need to make sure that no one will ever know about it. And even after that, the self-signaling component you're talking about will still remain, because there's no way for you to forget the experience completely.

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