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Decius comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 20, chapter 90 - Less Wrong Discussion

9 Post author: palladias 02 July 2013 02:13AM

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Comment author: Decius 02 July 2013 09:10:13PM 0 points [-]

Do you emotionally believe that only terrible people allow bad things to happen?

Comment author: Qiaochu_Yuan 02 July 2013 10:13:03PM 0 points [-]

"Allow" is a strange word; when I'm rehearsing to myself what a terrible person I am it's more like "I caused this bad thing to happen because of my terribleness."

Comment author: Decius 03 July 2013 05:54:02AM 0 points [-]

When you feel that way, do you feel that terribleness in you is an inherent unchangeable state, like 'vanquishes dark lords', which causes bad things to happen around you?

Meta: I'm not trying to do anything related to blame; I'm trying to understand something odd and interesting, with a likely side effect of being able to provide useful advice.

Comment author: Qiaochu_Yuan 03 July 2013 06:06:44AM 0 points [-]

That is the worry, yes.

Comment author: Decius 03 July 2013 06:30:40AM 0 points [-]

Can you project that onto outside influences? I've got qualms about suggesting how to blame other people, but can you replace "I am a terrible person" with "I have bad luck"?

Comment author: Qiaochu_Yuan 03 July 2013 08:52:55AM 0 points [-]

In the case I have in mind, attempting to do so would provide more evidence that I am a terrible person.

Comment author: Decius 03 July 2013 10:14:57PM 0 points [-]

So then, NOT attempting to do so must be evidence that you aren't a terrible person? Would it help to consider all of the things that you could have done worse?

Comment author: Qiaochu_Yuan 04 July 2013 12:15:17AM 0 points [-]

Not particularly.