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Konkvistador comments on What if "status" IS a terminal value for most people? - Less Wrong Discussion

18 Post author: handoflixue 24 December 2012 08:31PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 24 December 2012 09:47:28PM *  7 points [-]

Terminal vs. Instrumental valuing something is a tricky distinction to make in humans! I have to shrug and say I don't know.

Not seeming to care about status on the other hand is quite easy to detect. The argument wouldn't have shown much optimization for making the author look high status. For example an opportunity to talk about positive traits the author has may be passed up.

Also note I wasn't claiming the paragraph was evidence, just that it would be seen as a status grab. It is after all status raising if taken as an accurate description of a person in our community.

Comment author: handoflixue 25 December 2012 12:23:04AM 7 points [-]

I had genuinely not considered that it would ACTUALLY raise my status to make that claim. This was originally written for a more mainstream audience, where that claim would (I presume) be low status. A friend of mine even commented in a bit of shock that this wasn't an obvious fact of the world to me.

I find it amusing that my accidental status grab has been subverted by you, and turned in to a potential loss of status :)