What the chicken study (and my own direct experience with chickens and people) suggests to me is that the most important aspect of “status” is the self-belief. Outside of the position-revealing behavior itself, there was nothing externally obvious about any of the chickens that made you think, “Oh, yes, THAT’s the top chicken.” So, it must be something inherent in the chicken’s thought process, and, by extension, in our own.

Put the Mayor and the Quarterback and the Philosopher and the Mafia Don and the Chief Justice and the Garbage Man in a room together, and *someone* will percolate to the top of the pecking order. You and I might think that the quarterback and the philosopher are the greatest guys in the world, but perhaps they’ve got some self-esteem issues that, in the position-jockie, end up taking them out of the running early.

I guess this is not so much a criticism of your point, but more of an additional aspect, for what it’s worth.

What the chicken study (and my own direct experience with chickens and people) suggests to me is that the most important aspect of “status” is the self-belief. Outside of the position-revealing behavior itself, there was nothing externally obvious about any of the chickens that made you think, “Oh, yes, THAT’s the top chicken.” So, it must be something inherent in the chicken’s thought process, and, by extension, in our own.

Put the Mayor and the Quarterback and the Philosopher and the Mafia Don and the Chief Justice and the Garbage Man in a room together, and *someone* will percolate to the top of the pecking order. You and I might think that the quarterback and the philosopher are the greatest guys in the world, but perhaps they’ve got some self-esteem issues that, in the position-jockie, end up taking them out of the running early.

I guess this is not so much a criticism of your point, but more of an additional aspect, for what it’s worth.

Just think about it. It is not wrong at all to engage in positional games. Pissing contests are not the reviled zero-sum games that e.g. Nick Bostrom would like to ban.

Let thousands of unequal flowers bloom, each higher than all others, in one of the world’s infinite dimensions. Burn the atavistic neurons of envy out of your brains, fellow transhumanists. Become better persons by being better, not equal.

Let the New Revolution begin:

Liberte-Inegalite-Atomisation!

Rafal

Just think about it. It is not wrong at all to engage in positional games. Pissing contests are not the reviled zero-sum games that e.g. Nick Bostrom would like to ban.

Let thousands of unequal flowers bloom, each higher than all others, in one of the world’s infinite dimensions. Burn the atavistic neurons of envy out of your brains, fellow transhumanists. Become better persons by being better, not equal.

Let the New Revolution begin:

Liberte-Inegalite-Atomisation!

Rafal

The Strange Myth of Finite Status This is the most interesting thing you’ll read all day, although he lapses into economics talk, so here’s a quick primer. If you already know this stuff, just read the thing! When he refers…

Amen. I dig this post. Seems there’s a backdoor pro- decentralized culture point here too: viz. more status domains means some folks are understanding and evaluating one another by employing more and richer categories. Which means: more social pressure toward mental alertness and agility, since which categories to apply in which context is a trickier matter (than it is, say, under a dictatorship where the status ponds are fewer, less diverse, more dictated). Which means a marginally cleverer, more mindful populace. Or something like that. Point is, hurrah! for being able to win at life in lotsa different ways.

Amen. I dig this post. Seems there’s a backdoor pro- decentralized culture point here too: viz. more status domains means some folks are understanding and evaluating one another by employing more and richer categories. Which means: more social pressure toward mental alertness and agility, since which categories to apply in which context is a trickier matter (than it is, say, under a dictatorship where the status ponds are fewer, less diverse, more dictated). Which means a marginally cleverer, more mindful populace. Or something like that. Point is, hurrah! for being able to win at life in lotsa different ways.