There is a rare personality trait which allows a person to read and respond to hundreds of critical comments without compromising their perspicacity and composure. Luke, for instance, has demonstrated this trait
Not sure I totally agree. My LW comments may show retained composure in most cases, but I can think of two instances in the past few months in which I became (mildly) emotional in SI meetings in ways that disrupted my judgment until after I had cooled down. Anna can confirm, as she happens to have been present for both meetings. (Eliezer could also confirm if he had better episodic memory.) The first instance was a board meeting at which we discussed different methods of tracking project expenses, the second was at a strategy meeting which Anna compared to a Markov chain.
Anyway, I’m aware of people who are better at this than I am, and building this skill is one of my primary self-improvement goals at this time.
Keeping one’s composure in person and keeping one’s composure on the Internet are distinct aptitudes (and only somewhat correlated, as far as I can tell), and it still looks to me like you’ve done well at the latter.
Not sure I totally agree. My LW comments may show retained composure in most cases, but I can think of two instances in the past few months in which I became (mildly) emotional in SI meetings in ways that disrupted my judgment until after I had cooled down. Anna can confirm, as she happens to have been present for both meetings. (Eliezer could also confirm if he had better episodic memory.) The first instance was a board meeting at which we discussed different methods of tracking project expenses, the second was at a strategy meeting which Anna compared to a Markov chain.
Anyway, I’m aware of people who are better at this than I am, and building this skill is one of my primary self-improvement goals at this time.
I appreciate you sharing this.
Keeping one’s composure in person and keeping one’s composure on the Internet are distinct aptitudes (and only somewhat correlated, as far as I can tell), and it still looks to me like you’ve done well at the latter.