[ExI] [Extropolis] who?

[Keith Henson]

On Sat, Aug 19, 2023 at 11:32 AM <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [ExI] [Extropolis] trump
>
> On Sat, Aug 19, 2023 at 10:18 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>
> > >
> > >>... Keith I fully embrace the notion that EP has genetically
> > >>programmed me to write comments such as the paragraph above.  Cool!
> > >>spike
> >
> >> >...Oh?  What evolved psychological trait motivates you to post?
> >
> >>... My posts elicit responses which I find intriguing.  It's why I have been hanging around here for the past nearly 3 decades.  It is interesting here.  I have no other mailing lists where the topic of EP is discussed or even known.
>
> >...That does not answer the question I asked,  The underlying motivation for posting is the same as a wide range of things humans do, we do it for status...
>
> Keith, status is a possible motivation, but it isn't a universal motivation for posting here, and I might even argue it isn't even a primary motive in my case.

People are not aware of their motivations.  I am aware of my
motivation for seeking status, but only as an intellectual inference.
It is, with darn good reason, one of the most persistent moties people
have.

> I am not and have never been, a high status person.

Doesn't matter.

> There are not many of us left, so status is mostly irrelevant.

Also doesn't matter.  If you do things with the (often unconscious)
function of improving your status, it doesn't matter if one or a dozen
or a million people know about it.

> I am on some much larger internet forums, and ones which are read by neighbors, where status does matter.  If I posted primarily for status, I would post there much more often than I do, which is seldom indeed.

Per above, it does not affect motivation.

> EP is a powerful explanatory notion.  With that, it carries a heavy burden of caution against confirmation bias.

Status as a motivator has a very low barriour.  Ask if high status
males in the past tended to have more children.  Or think about the
lowest status males and how many of them became our ancestors.

> In my own case, I have posted stuff here that I know will reduce my status in this group, but I do so anyway, for I am interested in the responses it will generate.  An example: we are living in times where there is daily-accumulating evidence that our current POTUS, whose name I cannot recall, received a 5 million dollar bribe in exchange for getting a Ukrainian prosecutor fired.  Source: FBI.  The FBI wrote an unclassified F-1023 with the details.  The IRS found some of the money trails, at least parts of the trails, without knowledge of the FBI report.

This is just my opinion, but Biden, compared to Trump, is a lot better.

> Even mentioning that turd in the punchbowl will lower my status in this group most likely, and lower my status in your eyes Keith, which is a status I value highly.  I choose to post that however, for it is impossible to ignore and has enormous consequences, among which is a motive for US committing unlimited military and financial support of Ukraine, which places the planet's two biggest nuclear powers on opposite sides of the battlefield.  This is not good.

Agreed, but it's a decision I back.  I am pissed at Putin not just for
the stupid war, but for it being in conflict with my model of war.

> >...I might add that posting to the Extropian list (at least in the past) did result in high status (if not more nooky.)
>
> Sure but you are a special case Keith.  You have done a lotta cool stuff.

Some of it stupid beyond belief.

> >...I ran into a paper by Maxwell Tabarrok where he traced the world-shaking influence of ideas originating on this list.
>
> https://maximumprogress.substack.com/p/grading-extropian-predictions
>
> We could argue that prediction markets originated here with Robin Hanson's Ideas Futures.  I am convinced that digital cash was invented here, with Hal Finney's work.  My own work on MBrains came from Robert's work on the topic, which he generously invited me to work on over many years, which is helping me understand what might be happening at Tabby's star.  Those are three huge developments.  There have been a lotta really cool ideas I have been introduced to in this forum.

It has certainly been a hotbed of new ideas.

Keith

> spike
>