Part of why I think selecting for this trait is particularly bad if you want to find amazing ops people is I have a hunch that executive dysfunction is very bad for ops roles. I also suspect that executive dysfunction makes it easier to trick people in conversation/interviews into thinking you’re really smart and good at analytic reasoning.
I actually think that executive dysfunction and interest in EA are so well correlated that we could use ASD and ADHD diagnostic tools to identify people who are pre-disposed to falling down the EA/LessWrong/longtermism rabbit-hole. (I’m only half-joking, I legitimately think finding people without any executive dysfunctional traits who are interested in EA might be the root cause of some talent bottlenecks)
I am biased because I think I’m quite good at “tricking” people into thinking I’m smart in conversation and that halo-effecting me in EA has been bad and could have been a lot worse (cos at age 20 you just believe people when they tell you your doubts are imposter syndrome and not just self-awareness).
Don’t get me wrong, I love me (well, I actually have a very up and down relationship with myself but I generally have a lot more ups than downs and I have an incredible psychologist so hopefully I won’t need a caveat like this in future 🤣🤞).
I just think that competency is more multi-dimensional than many rationalist people seem to alieve.
I have related thoughts on over-selecting for one single good-but-not-the-be-all-and-end-all trait (being exceptionally analytic) in the EA community in response to the ridiculously competent CEO of GWWC’s comment here: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/x9Rn5SfapcbbZaZy9/ea-for-dumb-people?commentId=noHWAsztWeJvijbGC
Part of why I think selecting for this trait is particularly bad if you want to find amazing ops people is I have a hunch that executive dysfunction is very bad for ops roles. I also suspect that executive dysfunction makes it easier to trick people in conversation/interviews into thinking you’re really smart and good at analytic reasoning.
I actually think that executive dysfunction and interest in EA are so well correlated that we could use ASD and ADHD diagnostic tools to identify people who are pre-disposed to falling down the EA/LessWrong/longtermism rabbit-hole. (I’m only half-joking, I legitimately think finding people without any executive dysfunctional traits who are interested in EA might be the root cause of some talent bottlenecks)
I am biased because I think I’m quite good at “tricking” people into thinking I’m smart in conversation and that halo-effecting me in EA has been bad and could have been a lot worse (cos at age 20 you just believe people when they tell you your doubts are imposter syndrome and not just self-awareness).
Don’t get me wrong, I love me (well, I actually have a very up and down relationship with myself but I generally have a lot more ups than downs and I have an incredible psychologist so hopefully I won’t need a caveat like this in future 🤣🤞).
I just think that competency is more multi-dimensional than many rationalist people seem to alieve.