Stabilizer comments on Rationality Quotes May 2013 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: katydee 03 May 2013 08:02PM

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

Comments (387)

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

Comment author: Stabilizer 03 May 2013 08:22:31PM *  21 points [-]

Why do you say that? Many times, you say something publicly, it then becomes part of your identity, and after that there is a subconscious force that tries to make sure that your future actions and words are in line with what you said earlier.

Comment author: jaibot 03 May 2013 08:48:29PM *  3 points [-]

This is also what I take from the quote - before I state a belief out loud I have a much easier time adjusting and retracting it - once it's out there, I've got pride and status tied up with it being right. Once I realized this a few years ago I starting making a conscious effort to not say things out loud until I was extremely confident that I was right. I still make this mistake more often than I would like, but less frequently.