But it helps to remember that other people have a lot of virtues that I don’t have --
This is a really important thing, and not just in the obvious ways. Outside of a small social bubble, people can be deeply illegible. I don’t understand their culture, their subculture, their dominant culture frameworks, their mode of interaction, etc. You either need to find the overlaps or start doing cultural anthropology.
I worked for a woman, once. She was probably 60 years my senior. She was from the Deep South, and deeply religious. She once casually confided that she would sometimes spend 2 hours of her day on her knees in prayer, asking to become a better person. And you know what? It worked. She moved through the world as a force for good and kindness. Not in one big dramatic way, but just sort of casually shedding kindness around her, touching people’s lives. She’d lift up someone in a frustrating moment. She’d inspire someone to be a bit more of their better self. She’d gotten all the answers on questions like racism very right, not in a social justice way, but she wouldn’t accept it at all.
She was also a damn competent businesswoman. She could instantly identify where to put a retail location.
And I could relate to her on those levels, her business skills and her ethics. And I’m sure she was doing a lot of work on her end to accommodate the fact that I was a peculiar kid.
But I couldn’t have discussed academic philosophy with her. She’d have understood EA instantly; her business skills and her compassion would have done that. But she’d still insist on “inefficiently” helping the human being in front of her, too. She would have looked at something like LessWrong and concluded everyone was basically crazy. (Narrator: But would she have been wrong?)
Now, I’ve painted a glowing picture here, and she would reprimand me for it. If I’m being honest, she was maybe 1-in-100 at practical ethics, not a national champion.
But the world is full of people like her. There are a couple of people sitting in that sports bar you’d be damn privileged to know, if only you could bridge the cultural gaps. Hell, there are usually some damn fine systematizing geeks in that sports bar. Have you ever really listened to true sports fans? Even back before sports betting corrupted the whole endeavor, many people took great joy in tracking endless stats and building elaborate models. They could be worse than your average Factorio player!
Finally, truth seeking can be a tricky thing. Do it wrong, and your beliefs can turn you into a monster. And a lot of people choose to optimize for “not being a monster” by not taking abstract ideas too seriously.
This is a really important thing, and not just in the obvious ways. Outside of a small social bubble, people can be deeply illegible. I don’t understand their culture, their subculture, their dominant culture frameworks, their mode of interaction, etc. You either need to find the overlaps or start doing cultural anthropology.
I worked for a woman, once. She was probably 60 years my senior. She was from the Deep South, and deeply religious. She once casually confided that she would sometimes spend 2 hours of her day on her knees in prayer, asking to become a better person. And you know what? It worked. She moved through the world as a force for good and kindness. Not in one big dramatic way, but just sort of casually shedding kindness around her, touching people’s lives. She’d lift up someone in a frustrating moment. She’d inspire someone to be a bit more of their better self. She’d gotten all the answers on questions like racism very right, not in a social justice way, but she wouldn’t accept it at all.
She was also a damn competent businesswoman. She could instantly identify where to put a retail location.
And I could relate to her on those levels, her business skills and her ethics. And I’m sure she was doing a lot of work on her end to accommodate the fact that I was a peculiar kid.
But I couldn’t have discussed academic philosophy with her. She’d have understood EA instantly; her business skills and her compassion would have done that. But she’d still insist on “inefficiently” helping the human being in front of her, too. She would have looked at something like LessWrong and concluded everyone was basically crazy. (Narrator: But would she have been wrong?)
Now, I’ve painted a glowing picture here, and she would reprimand me for it. If I’m being honest, she was maybe 1-in-100 at practical ethics, not a national champion.
But the world is full of people like her. There are a couple of people sitting in that sports bar you’d be damn privileged to know, if only you could bridge the cultural gaps. Hell, there are usually some damn fine systematizing geeks in that sports bar. Have you ever really listened to true sports fans? Even back before sports betting corrupted the whole endeavor, many people took great joy in tracking endless stats and building elaborate models. They could be worse than your average Factorio player!
Finally, truth seeking can be a tricky thing. Do it wrong, and your beliefs can turn you into a monster. And a lot of people choose to optimize for “not being a monster” by not taking abstract ideas too seriously.