On what grounds do you believe this is our greatest desire? Alternative question: who in particular desires to see their private knowledge manifest as consensus reality?
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Replying to @simpolism
Excellent question. As with many things I say, it is a bit of hyperbole, but also true IMO. I base this assertion on a gut feeling which I derive from what I observe, how people endlessly and voraciously squabble over who is right, even when it is utterly meaningless to be right
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Replying to @0x49fa98
I might suggest that a minority of people do the majority of the squabbling (the "intellectual" class, such as ourselves...). Most seem to have other desires, often within the domain of identity (rooted in social reality, being "seen as") instead of upon social reality itself.
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Replying to @simpolism @0x49fa98
I'm not sure there's a meaningful difference between the desire to be "seen as" and to be in control of social reality - if you can decide how people can be seen based on different traits, you can directly make yourself be seen a certain way.
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So our desire for control over consensus is an insecure desire for status - we don't have faith in our ability to be popular, so we redefine popular.
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Replying to @imhinesmi @0x49fa98
I agree with this analysis, but why do you claim the distinction between "become popular" and "redefine popular" isn't significant?
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Replying to @simpolism @0x49fa98
They're different behaviors, but come from the same desire. So if you want to examine what people want, they're the same.
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Replying to @imhinesmi @0x49fa98
Would this be the same if one's most significant desire was to, say, prove something to their parents, rather than to "society"?
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Replying to @simpolism @0x49fa98
What I mean by "society" is the people we interact with, viewed all together, for a broad view of interact. But usually we only care about some subset of people; these people can be just our parents. The core desire to be liked is the same, the focus is changed.
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Replying to @imhinesmi @0x49fa98
I can accept that the underlying desires are the same, but it's probably important to note the significance in how "desire to be liked" manifests as either "desire for X to like me" vs "desire to control social reality."
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Absolutely. Though I think most such activity takes place on a continuum. Each grab for status with a particular method changes how good it is at gaining status. And making a new status game gives quite a bit of status. Adept socialites play both levels at once.
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