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hyporational comments on Open thread, Apr. 18 - Apr. 24, 2016 - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: MrMind 18 April 2016 07:19AM

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Comment author: Lumifer 21 April 2016 01:07:27AM 0 points [-]

Non-conformity usually means low social skills

Er, no, I don't think so.

Conformity is a function that requires a rather important argument: conformity to what? When you see non-conformity, the usual case is that you see someone from a different tribe and that tells you nothing about this person's social skills.

Occasionally there is a different situation: someone is trying to conform and failing. Now that is actually a sign of low social skills. But that isn't quite non-conformity, that's failing at conformity.

Comment author: hyporational 21 April 2016 02:14:34AM *  0 points [-]

Not recognizing what the rules are or not understanding why they exist could be more easily confused with non-conformity, while recognizing the rules but failing to apply them is more apparently incompetent. Volitional non-conformity requires understanding of the rules and the ability to apply them, and it's not entirely obvious what constitutes understanding in this highly subjective matter. The aspect of opting in/out of acquiring the skills needed for conformity complicates things further.