This sortof makes sense to me, but to the best of my recollection I’ve never encountered this. That said, there might be some reasons:
I have historically had a pretty muted emotional->physical response. It took me decades to realize that when someone said that an emotional impact hit them “like a punch in the gut”, they were not just exaggerating for emphasis. Sure, I feel some physical effects, but less “punch in the gut” and more like “mild barely noticeable discomfort”.
Even as a child, data took precedence over feelings. Eliezer has frequently talked about being forced to look at something you don’t like, at it taking effort to accept information that contradicts your existing state. That’s never been that hard for me; new piece of disturbing data? That sucks, but we still need to immediately fold it into our working model.
I’m used to handling incoherent beliefs because I have to emulate people in order to function in society. “What data set / background / training is needed for a belief system to come to this conclusion?” is a normal question for me. If a new horrifying thing comes in, I figure out what contexts it might be valid in, then look at the differences in models. If I find something to update, I do.
I write this mostly for myself. I’m often surprised by just how differently people think; and I appreciate posts like this, because they provide a little bit more insight into what’s going on in other people’s heads.
I’m not confident that this is an inherent thing about me rather than luck.
I wonder if it’s just that I’ve lucked out and mostly avoided the bad type of situations wherein my more analytical side is seemingly suppressed to the degree Kaj describes in his post. I’ve had a pretty good life so far.
That’s not to say I haven’t had bad things happen to me. (possibly uncomfortable TMI about bad things happening in following spoiler-ed text)
Probably the worst thing that has happened to me is that we had a child die during childbirth. That was really bad and it causes me some amount of sadness when I think about it even 15 years later. It just never was a thing that caused anything like what is described in this post. It was sadness that lasted longer and was more intense than previous things that made me sad, but it wasn’t a fundamentally different sort of sadness.
I think it’s possible that I’ve just been lucky in that I’ve not had the life events whose exact characteristics mesh with the exact characteristics of my mind to lead to the sort of feeling described in this post or really most (all?) of the types of things I read about when people talk about trauma of various sorts.
On the other hand, there are things about me that make me think maybe I have innate characteristics which lead me to not feel the way the post describes. I’m a happy person. Things don’t keep me down. I think positively about myself and others. I’m analytical. I’m pragmatic. I’m a bunch of things that fit into a cluster that would probably include “doesn’t hold incoherent emotional beliefs so tightly as to need it’s own word”.
This sortof makes sense to me, but to the best of my recollection I’ve never encountered this. That said, there might be some reasons:
I have historically had a pretty muted emotional->physical response. It took me decades to realize that when someone said that an emotional impact hit them “like a punch in the gut”, they were not just exaggerating for emphasis. Sure, I feel some physical effects, but less “punch in the gut” and more like “mild barely noticeable discomfort”.
Even as a child, data took precedence over feelings. Eliezer has frequently talked about being forced to look at something you don’t like, at it taking effort to accept information that contradicts your existing state. That’s never been that hard for me; new piece of disturbing data? That sucks, but we still need to immediately fold it into our working model.
I’m used to handling incoherent beliefs because I have to emulate people in order to function in society. “What data set / background / training is needed for a belief system to come to this conclusion?” is a normal question for me. If a new horrifying thing comes in, I figure out what contexts it might be valid in, then look at the differences in models. If I find something to update, I do.
I write this mostly for myself. I’m often surprised by just how differently people think; and I appreciate posts like this, because they provide a little bit more insight into what’s going on in other people’s heads.
Your comment describes me.
I’m not confident that this is an inherent thing about me rather than luck.
I wonder if it’s just that I’ve lucked out and mostly avoided the bad type of situations wherein my more analytical side is seemingly suppressed to the degree Kaj describes in his post. I’ve had a pretty good life so far.
That’s not to say I haven’t had bad things happen to me. (possibly uncomfortable TMI about bad things happening in following spoiler-ed text)
Probably the worst thing that has happened to me is that we had a child die during childbirth. That was really bad and it causes me some amount of sadness when I think about it even 15 years later. It just never was a thing that caused anything like what is described in this post. It was sadness that lasted longer and was more intense than previous things that made me sad, but it wasn’t a fundamentally different sort of sadness.
I think it’s possible that I’ve just been lucky in that I’ve not had the life events whose exact characteristics mesh with the exact characteristics of my mind to lead to the sort of feeling described in this post or really most (all?) of the types of things I read about when people talk about trauma of various sorts.
On the other hand, there are things about me that make me think maybe I have innate characteristics which lead me to not feel the way the post describes. I’m a happy person. Things don’t keep me down. I think positively about myself and others. I’m analytical. I’m pragmatic. I’m a bunch of things that fit into a cluster that would probably include “doesn’t hold incoherent emotional beliefs so tightly as to need it’s own word”.