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Lumifer comments on Open Thread, January 11-17, 2016 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: username2 12 January 2016 10:29AM

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Comment author: bogus 15 January 2016 04:14:19PM *  0 points [-]

Nigel doesn't care about status (including Sally's) and all he wants to do is talk about his nerdy stuff.

Oh, Nigel may not care about Sally's status - that much is clear enough, and I'm not disputing it. He cares a lot about his own status and the status of his nerdy associates, however. That's one reason why he likes this "bzzzzzzt, gotcha!" game so much. It's a way of saying: "Hey, this is our club; outsiders are not welcome here! Why don't you go to a sports bar, or something." Am I being uncharitable? Perhaps so, but my understanding of Nigel's POV is as plausible as yours.

Comment author: Lumifer 15 January 2016 04:22:22PM 5 points [-]

Our friend Nigel may or may not play status games of his own, but my issue was with you saying

A person coming from "social culture" to "nerd culture" may interpret everything as a part of some devious status game.

The social person is right here.

And, nope, the social person is not.

Of course, it all depends on the situation and she may be right, but, generally speaking, feeling like an outsider does NOT mean that everyone is playing devious status games against you.