Scott now writes at Astral Codex 10. He's talking about "imposter syndrome" of worthy folk feeling unworthy.
"Productive" for me is doing work that has value for others. Nobody I know thinks less litter is not better than more litter.
But the "market value" of such work might be so low that few choose to do that work, when there are…
Scott now writes at Astral Codex 10. He's talking about "imposter syndrome" of worthy folk feeling unworthy.
"Productive" for me is doing work that has value for others. Nobody I know thinks less litter is not better than more litter.
But the "market value" of such work might be so low that few choose to do that work, when there are other alternatives. Including getting gov't benefits, like food stamps, for doing nothing. UBI makes more folk do nothing, which will be terrible for many, probably most, who need more self respect.
Avg IQ =100; almost nobody is exactly average; some 34+34 = 68% of the people are within one 15 point standard deviation of 100: 85-115, which are all sort-of average.
You really think staying home playing video games and watching porn and masturbating all day leads to self respect?
I know Scott's new place, but old classics are still old classics.
"'Productive' for me is doing work that has value for others."
Yes, but how do you *know* it does, unless they're willing to pay you? "Don't play dumb, Midge," I can imagine you saying — because that's exactly what I'm telling myself right now.
But I've also been in volunteer situations where the volunteers took on unusually unpleasant work to make life more pleasant for everyone else involved — and were ultimately treated as "losers" and "parasites" for volunteering, with overt appeals to the reasoning that, if the work were truly worth anything, it would be paid, not volunteer!:
Work does not *have* to be paid for in a free market in order to be "worth something", but the sad fact is that, in a pluralistic society, it's hard to *prove* it's worth anything unless it is.
"You really think staying home playing video games and watching porn and masturbating all day leads to self respect?"
No, *not typically on the margins*. (Indeed, I belong to a tradition that still sees masturbation as a sin: nonetheless, if someone were wanking as a distraction from drug cravings or active suicidal ideation, what kind of shriveled heart would I have to have to not consider that the lesser of evils?) But I also know it's common enough for some people to behave like that and somehow still end up thinking higher of themselves than others who've earnestly beavered away through all the traditional advice about self-improvement.
Scott now writes at Astral Codex 10. He's talking about "imposter syndrome" of worthy folk feeling unworthy.
"Productive" for me is doing work that has value for others. Nobody I know thinks less litter is not better than more litter.
But the "market value" of such work might be so low that few choose to do that work, when there are other alternatives. Including getting gov't benefits, like food stamps, for doing nothing. UBI makes more folk do nothing, which will be terrible for many, probably most, who need more self respect.
Avg IQ =100; almost nobody is exactly average; some 34+34 = 68% of the people are within one 15 point standard deviation of 100: 85-115, which are all sort-of average.
You really think staying home playing video games and watching porn and masturbating all day leads to self respect?
Or maybe you think respect doesn't matter?
I know Scott's new place, but old classics are still old classics.
"'Productive' for me is doing work that has value for others."
Yes, but how do you *know* it does, unless they're willing to pay you? "Don't play dumb, Midge," I can imagine you saying — because that's exactly what I'm telling myself right now.
But I've also been in volunteer situations where the volunteers took on unusually unpleasant work to make life more pleasant for everyone else involved — and were ultimately treated as "losers" and "parasites" for volunteering, with overt appeals to the reasoning that, if the work were truly worth anything, it would be paid, not volunteer!:
Work does not *have* to be paid for in a free market in order to be "worth something", but the sad fact is that, in a pluralistic society, it's hard to *prove* it's worth anything unless it is.
"You really think staying home playing video games and watching porn and masturbating all day leads to self respect?"
No, *not typically on the margins*. (Indeed, I belong to a tradition that still sees masturbation as a sin: nonetheless, if someone were wanking as a distraction from drug cravings or active suicidal ideation, what kind of shriveled heart would I have to have to not consider that the lesser of evils?) But I also know it's common enough for some people to behave like that and somehow still end up thinking higher of themselves than others who've earnestly beavered away through all the traditional advice about self-improvement.
"The heart is deceitful above all else."