Jiro comments on Why I Am Not a Rationalist, or, why several of my friends warned me that this is a cult - Less Wrong

12 Post author: Algernoq 13 July 2014 05:54PM

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Comment author: Jiro 24 July 2014 09:21:33AM 3 points [-]

I think even that is being unfair to him. "I don't have problems with sociopaths and I think it's because I'm not the kind of person who sociopaths bother" may be a claim of high status, but "I don't have problems with sociopaths and I think that's because people in general don't have problems with sociopaths, and you're biased or unlucky" is not. (It can't be a claim of high status--if it is, that would mean that your question is a catch-22, where anyone who actively fails to confirm you is automatically claiming high status.)

Comment author: Algernoq 25 July 2014 02:01:18AM 3 points [-]

people in general don't have problems with sociopaths

I agree it sounds like he's claiming the above. I don't see how this is useful or accurate, because it fits the pattern of "people in general don't have problems with (X widely known problem)".

I agree, someone who does not notice sociopaths likely has higher status than someone who does.

I can believe he genuinely doesn't see sociopaths in his community. Given the base rate for sociopathy is ~1% and that he has probably met, very roughly, 4,000 people, the probability that he has never met a sociopath in his community is (.99)^(4,000)=3.47*10^-18. In other words, the probability that he has met a sociopath and didn't realize it is ~100%.

This conversation becomes pointless. As Thucydides said: questions of justice only exist between equal powers.

Comment author: Jiro 25 July 2014 02:25:34AM 3 points [-]

In other words, the probability that he has met a sociopath and didn't realize it is ~100%.

"I don't have problems with sociopaths" doesn't mean that he has met absolutely zero sociopaths, so this calculation is meaningless.

I agree, someone who does not notice sociopaths likely has higher status than someone who does.

The point is that it's not higher status. What you basically did was a catch-22 where you "asked for information", but set it up so that everyone would either have to agree with you, or be interpreted as making a status grab.