This seems like a problem with ethics and intelligence in general. The more you know, the more you see how things are connected, the more actions are ethically forbidden to you. Other people do not care, and they still sleep well at night, thinking of themselves as virtuous.
My solution is that I split the ethical considerations into two parts: things I care about, and things I don’t.
Things I care about include, for example, not hurting other people. I would try to avoid hurting other people, even if others did it all the time. Because I care intrinsically about people not being hurt more than I care about comparing myself to others. I do the right thing and fuck the rest of the world, kind of.
Thing I do not care about include, for example, honesty about my credentials. Because this is intrinsically a signalling game, there is no real substance behind it. I am not going to plainly lie (that might backfire), but I am not spending any energy on going the extra mile towards honesty. I write the things that seem good, I write them in the way that seems good, I skip the things that don’t seem good. If I am technically correct but connotationally misleading, I do not care. The purpose of the CV is to maximize my chances without being technically incorrect; mission accomplished.
Pick your ethical battles, I guess? Worry only about the things that on reflection are worth worrying about?
Re: infohazards
This seems like a problem with ethics and intelligence in general. The more you know, the more you see how things are connected, the more actions are ethically forbidden to you. Other people do not care, and they still sleep well at night, thinking of themselves as virtuous.
My solution is that I split the ethical considerations into two parts: things I care about, and things I don’t.
Things I care about include, for example, not hurting other people. I would try to avoid hurting other people, even if others did it all the time. Because I care intrinsically about people not being hurt more than I care about comparing myself to others. I do the right thing and fuck the rest of the world, kind of.
Thing I do not care about include, for example, honesty about my credentials. Because this is intrinsically a signalling game, there is no real substance behind it. I am not going to plainly lie (that might backfire), but I am not spending any energy on going the extra mile towards honesty. I write the things that seem good, I write them in the way that seems good, I skip the things that don’t seem good. If I am technically correct but connotationally misleading, I do not care. The purpose of the CV is to maximize my chances without being technically incorrect; mission accomplished.
Pick your ethical battles, I guess? Worry only about the things that on reflection are worth worrying about?