An Experiment

[nyuanshin]

"You see, you must become a student again -- an animal whom all ridicule -- if you really intend to subject your opinions to honest examination; and you know yourself that this is not the work of one hour or day."
-- Epictetus, Discourses ("Concerning family affection")

Requesting a couple of minutes of your time. It might not be quite what you

Comments

[_luaineach]

That was tough after the first couple.

[smandal]

I agree with luaineach, had to work hard after the first few. And, I only know you from your LJ, so beware sampling bias ...

[_luaineach]

And I'm amused at how highlighted your own "failings" are during the picking process. I found myself thinking "hmmmm... "intolerant"... is nyuanshin "intolerant"? ::muses:: Well, only of *stupid* people so that's perfectly reasonable and certainly doesn't qualify as intolerant to the point of it being a "failing" so ..."

::grin::

[nyuanshin]

Yeah, this sort of thing is always part Rorschach.

[nyuanshin]

Gauging that bias is part of the experiment, actually.

[queueball]

I stared at it for a good five minutes and decided it's too "general," or I'm overthinking. My answers would be as false as they are true, and that would be true for subjects other than you, as well. Not in simple cases, maybe; if Hitler were the subject, "cruel" would be an easy choice. But for most subjects, the fact that two dimensions are implicitly being judged -- a normative moral and a descriptive psychological one -- a good choice can easily be also a poor one, and as with any test designed with "a normal subject" in mind, I suspect the probability increases in inverse proportion with the conventionality of the subject's ideas.

[nyuanshin]

Not looking for nuance -- just wanted something quick and dirty as an entry point into some more refined interrogations.

[colinmarshall]

That's it, I'm readin' me some Epictetus.

Now to do this Window.

[colinmarshall]

Shit, this is kinda tough. My approach just shifted to "What do I think someone who doesn't like him would say about him?" rather than "What are his actual failings?"

[colinmarshall]

... which resulted in words like "cold", "brash", etc., since I imagine someone has glanced at your journal and deemed you insufficiently happy or whatever.

[queueball]

I guess that's what I was trying to say above ... the words are specific enough only for approach #1, not #2, which (I assume, maybe incorrectly) is (closer to) what it's intended for.

[xshardsx]

I had no trouble with this one. XD

[nyuanshin]

Knew you'd pull through. ;)