Kevin Simler

Controversial opinion: "what I think is true" and "my opinion" are and should be different things.

"what I think is true" is the info I'd share with someone who asked my advice if I were trying to be as helpful as possible without imposing my values on them.

"my opinion" is a performance of a role I want to occupy in social space.

The difference between performative and literal beliefs is the difference between character design in animation and realistic portraiture. Cartoon characters need to be vivid, distinctive, and on-theme, because they're being optimized for recognizability.

A performative opinion *must* convey info about the speaker which locates them in relation to other speakers in the social environment. This is why well-known truths are useless as performative opinions -- they're not distinctive.

You can't obtain personal loyalty -- people being helpful to *you per se*, helping you because it's *you* and not somebody else -- unless you're recognizable and distinctive.