Variance is a statistical property of populations, and what I’m saying isn’t about statistical properties of populations.
Say for example we have a monoculture Uniformistan, where everyone is virtually identical. The culture has very strong norms against creating disruption, so everyone tries really hard to avoid saying anything that will disrupt another person. People find this community very pleasant to be in, since no one ever says anything offensive, no one ever tells them they smell bad, etc. Well, pleasant on this front, at least.
Then we import Susie from a different culture where telling the truth is valued and disruptions are seen as necessary parts of life and what matters is recovery. She tells you that you smell bad—as gently and tactfully as she can, but she tells you. She tells everyone this, since y’all stopped showering once your fears of negative social feedback were quelled by culture. This is why you all think “Man, everyone else stinks”, and the culture isn’t so pleasant on that front.
Now all the variance is contained in “Are you talking with Susie-The-Disruptor?” and none of it in “Are you taking responsibility for making sure you can handle the truth?”—because no one does that. The more people start to take responsibility for their own epistemics, the less the variance is explained by Susie-The-Disruptor Susie-The-Truth-Teller. In Susie’s home town everyone is a truth teller, and few people stink, but there is varying skill in handling the more difficult information that comes after you’ve handled personal hygiene, so the ratio of variance is very very different.
The variance depends on the population, yet the dynamics are the same everywhere. The point I’m making holds in Uniformistan, even as your whole culture assures you that Susie-The-Disruptor is the problem because conflict follows her, and that you’re perfect in every way because you’re just like them.
In the terms of the post, the culture in Uniformistan attempts to Control conflicts in Control, rather than Opening to the conflicts as necessary to actually resolve them. It’s a control spiral spiralling meta (for which the next move is “YOU CAN’T CENSOR FREE SPEECH!”!)
Variance is a statistical property of populations, and what I’m saying isn’t about statistical properties of populations.
Say for example we have a monoculture Uniformistan, where everyone is virtually identical. The culture has very strong norms against creating disruption, so everyone tries really hard to avoid saying anything that will disrupt another person. People find this community very pleasant to be in, since no one ever says anything offensive, no one ever tells them they smell bad, etc. Well, pleasant on this front, at least.
Then we import Susie from a different culture where telling the truth is valued and disruptions are seen as necessary parts of life and what matters is recovery. She tells you that you smell bad—as gently and tactfully as she can, but she tells you. She tells everyone this, since y’all stopped showering once your fears of negative social feedback were quelled by culture. This is why you all think “Man, everyone else stinks”, and the culture isn’t so pleasant on that front.
Now all the variance is contained in “Are you talking with Susie-The-Disruptor?” and none of it in “Are you taking responsibility for making sure you can handle the truth?”—because no one does that. The more people start to take responsibility for their own epistemics, the less the variance is explained by
Susie-The-DisruptorSusie-The-Truth-Teller. In Susie’s home town everyone is a truth teller, and few people stink, but there is varying skill in handling the more difficult information that comes after you’ve handled personal hygiene, so the ratio of variance is very very different.The variance depends on the population, yet the dynamics are the same everywhere. The point I’m making holds in Uniformistan, even as your whole culture assures you that Susie-The-Disruptor is the problem because conflict follows her, and that you’re perfect in every way because you’re just like them.
In the terms of the post, the culture in Uniformistan attempts to Control conflicts in Control, rather than Opening to the conflicts as necessary to actually resolve them. It’s a control spiral spiralling meta (for which the next move is “YOU CAN’T CENSOR FREE SPEECH!”!)