I would definitely agree with the “I am a person who keeps promises” and “I am a person that’s loyal [...]” bits, but neither of those feel the same as “I am a democrat” or even “I am a seeker of accurate world models [...]” type sentences. They’re still not identities for me.
“Identities” tend to get treated as things that “have to” be true. A strong identity democrat might be insulted and defensive if you suggest that their stance on some issue is too conservative. Likewise a strong identity “rationalist” might get defensive and cook up some rationalizations if you suggest that they’re biased against a certain view and not accurately seeking truth.
It’s the “has to be true” part that causes problems. Am I someone that seeks accurate models, whatever they turn out to be? For the most part, yeah. Inaccurate models, especially without accurate metamodels that warn you not to use them, are pretty problematic and it really takes a twisted circumstance to make it worthwhile. But this isn’t a fact about my identity, it’s a fact about the world that accurate models get me more of what I want so that I generally want accurate models (and I’m willing to sacrifice a lot of “fit in without hiding beliefs” and the like in order to get them).
“I am a person who keeps promises” is likewise just a matter of fact. I am. Not being so would mean people have no reason to trust me and that would be very bad for me—so I make sure I don’t give people not to trust me. It’s still allowed to be untrue and I’m always allowed to consider breaking promises. It’s just that doing so would be dumb, so I don’t. Even when I could get away with it, since that weakens the story and my ability to credibly signal that it’s true and I probably wouldn’t be able to pull off the “forgot my lunch money” version of parfit’s hitchhiker anymore.
In short, I have no problems having beliefs about what kind of person I am, but without exceptions I don’t want motivations to believe—even when I have motivations to make it true.
I would definitely agree with the “I am a person who keeps promises” and “I am a person that’s loyal [...]” bits, but neither of those feel the same as “I am a democrat” or even “I am a seeker of accurate world models [...]” type sentences. They’re still not identities for me.
“Identities” tend to get treated as things that “have to” be true. A strong identity democrat might be insulted and defensive if you suggest that their stance on some issue is too conservative. Likewise a strong identity “rationalist” might get defensive and cook up some rationalizations if you suggest that they’re biased against a certain view and not accurately seeking truth.
It’s the “has to be true” part that causes problems. Am I someone that seeks accurate models, whatever they turn out to be? For the most part, yeah. Inaccurate models, especially without accurate metamodels that warn you not to use them, are pretty problematic and it really takes a twisted circumstance to make it worthwhile. But this isn’t a fact about my identity, it’s a fact about the world that accurate models get me more of what I want so that I generally want accurate models (and I’m willing to sacrifice a lot of “fit in without hiding beliefs” and the like in order to get them).
“I am a person who keeps promises” is likewise just a matter of fact. I am. Not being so would mean people have no reason to trust me and that would be very bad for me—so I make sure I don’t give people not to trust me. It’s still allowed to be untrue and I’m always allowed to consider breaking promises. It’s just that doing so would be dumb, so I don’t. Even when I could get away with it, since that weakens the story and my ability to credibly signal that it’s true and I probably wouldn’t be able to pull off the “forgot my lunch money” version of parfit’s hitchhiker anymore.
In short, I have no problems having beliefs about what kind of person I am, but without exceptions I don’t want motivations to believe—even when I have motivations to make it true.