[ExI] [Extropolis] who?

[Keith Henson]

"members don't think much about status"

Nobody thinks about their motivation, they just are.

Keith

On Sat, Aug 19, 2023 at 2:02 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> Status - Compared to the rest of our group members, my status ought to be at the bottom.  I am not a techie, went no further than algebra and trig.  No matter - I stay out of those discussions anyway.  I post only when I understand the ideas.
>
> Professors get a free ride in society re status.  I think that should extend to those who worked at high levels in science and/or had advanced degrees.  But I'll bet that those credentials don't matter to our group members - sophistication and nuanced ideas and creativity count more than what we did before joining. And I think that for the most part. members don't think much about status.  We don't defer to anyone if possible.  bill w
>
> On Sat, Aug 19, 2023 at 1:35 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> 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.  I am not and have never been, a high status person.  There are not many of us left, so status is mostly irrelevant.  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.
>>
>> EP is a powerful explanatory notion.  With that, it carries a heavy burden of caution against confirmation bias.
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> >...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.
>>
>> >...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.
>>
>> spike
>>
>>
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