I’ve read a lot of TLP and this is roughly my interpretation as well. Alone’s posts do not come with nicely-wrapped thesis statements (although the conclusion of this one is as close as it gets). The point she is making here is that the system doesn’t care about your happiness, but you should. The use of “goals” here isn’t the LessWrong definition, but the more prosaic one where it implies achievements in life and especially in careers. Real people who want to be happy do want someone who is passionate, and the juxtaposition of passionate with “mutual respect and shared values” is meant to imply a respectful but loveless marriage. If someone asks you about your partner and you most central characteristic you have to define your marriage is “mutual respect and shared values” that says something very different than if your central characteristic is “passionate.” It’s sterile, and that sterility is meant to suggest that the person who says “passionate” is going to be happier regardless of their achievements in the workplace.
I’ve read a lot of TLP and this is roughly my interpretation as well. Alone’s posts do not come with nicely-wrapped thesis statements (although the conclusion of this one is as close as it gets). The point she is making here is that the system doesn’t care about your happiness, but you should. The use of “goals” here isn’t the LessWrong definition, but the more prosaic one where it implies achievements in life and especially in careers. Real people who want to be happy do want someone who is passionate, and the juxtaposition of passionate with “mutual respect and shared values” is meant to imply a respectful but loveless marriage. If someone asks you about your partner and you most central characteristic you have to define your marriage is “mutual respect and shared values” that says something very different than if your central characteristic is “passionate.” It’s sterile, and that sterility is meant to suggest that the person who says “passionate” is going to be happier regardless of their achievements in the workplace.
Passion fades. If you want a lifelong relationship, and not an eventual divorce, it does require comparability / sharing of life goals.
I was about to comment something to the effect that those two desiderata aren’t mutually exclusive—but the Berkson paradox thing does apply.