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NancyLebovitz comments on Stupid Questions December 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion

16 Post author: Gondolinian 08 December 2014 03:39PM

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Comment author: philh 09 December 2014 10:57:17PM 6 points [-]

My friend isn't obviously-to-me wrong, but their argument is unconvincing to me.

It's normal for a smart kid to be kind of lonely - if true, that's sad, and by default we should try to fix it.

It builds substance - citation neded. It seems like it could just as easily build insecurity, resentment, etc.

Lousy social life - this is a failure mode. It might not be the worst one, but it seems like the most likely one, so deserving of attention.

Ditzy adolescent - how likely is this?

FWIW, I'm an adult who was kind of lonely as a kid, and on the margin I think that having a more active social life then would have had positive effects on me now.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 10 December 2014 04:16:44AM 3 points [-]

There may be a choice between a lot of time thinking/learning vs. a lot of time socializing.

It seems to me that a lot of famous creative people were childhood invalids, though I haven't heard of any such from recent decades. It may be that the right level of invalidism isn't common any more.