{"id":13951,"date":"2020-07-06T19:10:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T11:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/?p=13951"},"modified":"2024-10-15T23:28:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T15:28:47","slug":"status-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/blog\/status-regulation\/","title":{"rendered":"status and status regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2024oct15: there was a period of time where this seemed like one of the most important concepts I’d ever heard of, but I haven’t even really thought about it much recently. It feels like when I first learned about complex systems. I nerded out about it bigly, and then subsequently just internalized it into everything I was doing and didn’t find it necessary to point at it directly. Still, I expect I’ll find some reason to revisit this at some point.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023dec thoughts: this seems destined to be intertwined in an essay about deviants<\/a> and greatness<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t believe that status is a zero sum game, not in a way that matters. (thread<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also don\u2019t believe that status intrinsically makes people happy. There are lots of high-status people who are absolutely miserable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have to earn your own respect first. If you don\u2019t respect yourself, the admiration of others feels hollow & fake, and the more people express adulation, the more miserable you feel. You can see this in some celebrities, especially those who are trapped performing an act that they despise. They start to feel like a circus animal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also possible to be happy and not have much status, I\u2019ve met lovely people like this and there is a glow about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was about 22 or so I had a bunch of \u201cstatus\u201d as a \u201crenowned blogger\u201d. But I did not respect myself and I did not respect my work. So I walked away from it. It was painful, alienating, isolating. I felt hollow and cold and alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I worked really hard for several years to try and build new meaning for myself. It was a really tedious & painful process and it felt like I was working against myself in all directions. In retrospect I realise this is probably too difficult for most people to do alone like I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think you\u2019re miserable because you lack status, I bet you\u2019d still be miserable if you were bestowed status (look up what happens to lottery winners).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing you should probably be seeking, (in my opinion, based on 100s of conversations) is not status but self-respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could<\/em> say that self-respect is just the status you give yourself. I can tell that you don\u2019t respect yourself if you waste your time and energy dunking on internet strangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-loathing is an interesting inverted\/shadow form of self-respect. the part that is loathed is scapegoated, but the part doing<\/em> the loathing is venerated as an authority. This authority is illegitimate yet accepted. One can become a cruel authoritarian dictator over oneself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2731
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Status regulation<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrying to do interesting things in the future is a status violation because your current status right now determines what kinds of images you are allowed to associate with yourself […] \u201cPublicly setting out to do valuable and important things eventually is above the status you already have now, and will generate an immediate system-1 slapdown reaction.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Status Regulation and Anxious Underconfidence<\/a>, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Nov 2017<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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