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blacktrance comments on Dark Arts of Rationality - Less Wrong
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The difficulty of self-modification depends on the part being modified, the degree of modification, and one's attitudes towards the change. Some self-modifications are easy, others are impossible.
All right, let's get back to the real world. We were talking about romantic relations.
It is unlikely that a person who likes classical music and computer science will be able to self-modify into a person who likes heavy metal and stealing cars.
Can't speak for stealing cars, but there's more overlap between classical and metal fans than you might think; there exists a subgenre of neoclassical heavy metal, even.
Also, since cars are now quite integrated with computers this person might have lots of fun stealing them. And if ze watches Breaking Bad there's a whole lot of inspiration there for intellectuals looking to turn to a life of blue-collar crime.
Maybe I should be steel-manning Locaha's argument but my point is I don't think the limits of this sort of self-mod are well understood, so it's premature to declare which mods are or aren't "real world".
I think the problem here is one of motivation to self-modify. For example, it's one thing to want to self-modify to like spicy food (possible, but potentially unpleasant) or become bisexual (possible for some, probably, but not for others), but other self-modifications are less desirable - for example, I wouldn't want to be more interested in "normal people" even if it would increase the number of people with whom I'd have relationships.
Side-tip: it is useful to be "interested" in "normal people" in non-knowledge-directed ways. Not likely useful for a relationship but quite likely useful for friendships. (assuming you, as many non-normal-people around here, are treating "interest" as something on the lines of "useful knowledge").
I meant "interest" in the sense of "enjoy interaction with" or "enjoy a relationship with".
Then why wouldn't you [prefer to] enjoy more the interaction with most people?
I'd expect most of the gains from becoming more interested in "normal people" to come from the side effect of improving your emotional rapport with such people, not limited to those you might be interested in dating, not from the direct effect of increasing your supply of potential relationships.