Hi Michael! Huh, true, those terms seem to be vastly less commonly used than I had thought.
By survival mindset I mean: extreme risk aversion, fear, distrust toward strangers, little collaboration, isolation, guarded interaction with others, hoarding of money and other things, seeking close bonds with family and partners, etc., but I suppose it also comes with modesty and contentment, equanimity in the face of external catastrophes, vigilance, preparedness, etc.
By exploratory mindset I mean: risk neutrality, curiosity, trust toward strangers, collaboration, outgoing social behavior, making oneself vulnerable, trusting partners and family without much need for ritual, quick reinvestment of profits, etc., but I suppose also a bit lower conscientiousness, lacking preparedness for catastrophes, gullibility, overestimating how much others trust you, etc.
Those categories have been very useful for me, but maybe they’re a lot less useful for most other people? You can just ignore that question if the distinction makes no intuitive sense this way or doesn’t quite fit your world models.
This distinction reminds me of the “survival values vs self-expression values” dimension of the World Values Survey. I’m a bit rusty on those terms, but from skimming a Wikipedia page, I think the “survival” part lines up decently with what you describe as “survival mindset”, but the self-expression part might not line up well with “exploratory mindset”:
Survival values place emphasis on economic and physical security. They are linked with a relatively ethnocentric outlook and low levels of trust and tolerance.
Self-expression values give high priority to subjective well-being, self-expression and quality of life.[1] Some values more common in societies that embrace these values include environmental protection, growing tolerance of foreigners, gays and lesbians and gender equality, rising demands for participation in decision-making in economic and political life (autonomy and freedom from central authority), interpersonal trust, political moderation, and a shift in child-rearing values from emphasis on hard work toward imagination and tolerance.[1]
As for your question: I haven’t thought in terms of survival vs exploratory mindset before, so I don’t think I have a strong view on which is more useful for research (or the situations in which this differs), how often I adopt each mindset, or how I cultivate them. I guess I’d probably guess exploratory mindset tends to be more useful and tends to be what I have, but I’m not sure.
I think parts of Rationality: From AI to Zombies (aka “the sequences”) and Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality have quite useful advice—and a way of making it stick psychologically—that feels somewhat relevant here. E.g., the repeated emphasis and elaboration on “that which can be destroyed by the truth should be”. I have a sense that someone who’s struggling to adopt useful facets of the exploratory might benefit from reading (or re-skimming) one or both of those things.
Yeah, I agree about how well or not well those concepts line up. But I think insofar as I still struggle with probably disproportionate survival mindset, it’s about questions of being accepted socially and surviving financially rather than anything linked to beliefs (maybe indirectly in a few edge cases, but that feels almost irrelevant).
If this is not just my problem, it could mean that a universal basic income could unlock more genius researchers. :-)
Hi Michael! Huh, true, those terms seem to be vastly less commonly used than I had thought.
By survival mindset I mean: extreme risk aversion, fear, distrust toward strangers, little collaboration, isolation, guarded interaction with others, hoarding of money and other things, seeking close bonds with family and partners, etc., but I suppose it also comes with modesty and contentment, equanimity in the face of external catastrophes, vigilance, preparedness, etc.
By exploratory mindset I mean: risk neutrality, curiosity, trust toward strangers, collaboration, outgoing social behavior, making oneself vulnerable, trusting partners and family without much need for ritual, quick reinvestment of profits, etc., but I suppose also a bit lower conscientiousness, lacking preparedness for catastrophes, gullibility, overestimating how much others trust you, etc.
Those categories have been very useful for me, but maybe they’re a lot less useful for most other people? You can just ignore that question if the distinction makes no intuitive sense this way or doesn’t quite fit your world models.
This distinction reminds me of the “survival values vs self-expression values” dimension of the World Values Survey. I’m a bit rusty on those terms, but from skimming a Wikipedia page, I think the “survival” part lines up decently with what you describe as “survival mindset”, but the self-expression part might not line up well with “exploratory mindset”:
As for your question: I haven’t thought in terms of survival vs exploratory mindset before, so I don’t think I have a strong view on which is more useful for research (or the situations in which this differs), how often I adopt each mindset, or how I cultivate them. I guess I’d probably guess exploratory mindset tends to be more useful and tends to be what I have, but I’m not sure.
I think parts of Rationality: From AI to Zombies (aka “the sequences”) and Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality have quite useful advice—and a way of making it stick psychologically—that feels somewhat relevant here. E.g., the repeated emphasis and elaboration on “that which can be destroyed by the truth should be”. I have a sense that someone who’s struggling to adopt useful facets of the exploratory might benefit from reading (or re-skimming) one or both of those things.
Yeah, I agree about how well or not well those concepts line up. But I think insofar as I still struggle with probably disproportionate survival mindset, it’s about questions of being accepted socially and surviving financially rather than anything linked to beliefs (maybe indirectly in a few edge cases, but that feels almost irrelevant).
If this is not just my problem, it could mean that a universal basic income could unlock more genius researchers. :-)