Ah, that’s a very helpful clarification, and a distinction that I missed on first reading. I absolutely agree that a focus on the underlying behaviors and true good intents yields better results (both better signals and better outcomes, and most importantly, for many, is personally more satisfying) than trying to consciously work out the best signals.
I’m not sure it’s feasible to totally forget the signaling portion of your interactions—knowing about it MAY be helpful in choosing some marginal actions or statements, and it’s certainly valuable in interpreting others’ statements and behaviors. But I’m with you that the vast majority of your life should be driven by actual good intents.
I kind of wonder how much of this (and other goodheart-related topics) is a question of complexity vs legibility, seen vs unseen. When you introspect and consider signaling, there’s a pretty limited set of factors you can model and consider. When you just try to do something, there’s a lot of unspecified consideration that goes into it.
Ah, that’s a very helpful clarification, and a distinction that I missed on first reading. I absolutely agree that a focus on the underlying behaviors and true good intents yields better results (both better signals and better outcomes, and most importantly, for many, is personally more satisfying) than trying to consciously work out the best signals.
I’m not sure it’s feasible to totally forget the signaling portion of your interactions—knowing about it MAY be helpful in choosing some marginal actions or statements, and it’s certainly valuable in interpreting others’ statements and behaviors. But I’m with you that the vast majority of your life should be driven by actual good intents.
I kind of wonder how much of this (and other goodheart-related topics) is a question of complexity vs legibility, seen vs unseen. When you introspect and consider signaling, there’s a pretty limited set of factors you can model and consider. When you just try to do something, there’s a lot of unspecified consideration that goes into it.