Comment on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 20, chapter 90

Thu, 04 Jul 2013 04:11:54 GMT

This can be a response to any demand which is felt to be impossible.

Here's an example which is going to be a little vague because there's some privacy I want to maintain, but recently I demanded that someone not repeat the huge social mistake he'd just made. He started talking about what an awful person he was.

In my opinion, what was going on was that he wasn't sure what the boundaries that he needed to not cross were, and wasn't sure he could regulate his behavior, so he was trying to avoid further punishment by saying he was helpless and suffering enough already.

Since then, he's apologized in a way which I think means he understands the issues and will do better.

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