The perceived stakes

I’ve come to conclude that a major factor for how important people find epistemics and rationality is the perceived stakes.

The people I’ve talked to who have been most hostile towards these ideas have, I’ve gathered, a low-stakes view to life. That it’s not so serious. Accepting what life brings to you. A stoic mindset. Being happy with what you have in your everyday life.

It makes sense, then, that they don’t see the appeal of putting in an effort and trying to Do Better. It’d not be a native viewpoint to them, such try-harding, and moreover it’s not be clear what it would ultimately accomplish or whether you’d be better off at the end.

Similarly, though perhaps to a greater degree, I find such a low-stakes view alien. I have a fundamentally high-stakes view to life. There are tons of horrible things that can happen, have happened and keep on happening. Not only to people in general – which I don’t expect low-stakes-viewers to find as dispreferable as I do – but also to me, you, friends and family, personally.

People around me, people I know, people I care about, are sick, in pain, dying or all at once. People I care about are being attracted and absorbed by inhuman entities gnawing on them, coming out – if they come out – different, numb and lesser. People I care about are addicted, lonely and lost. People I care about will face whatever horrors, turmoil and downfalls of society that future brings.

I won’t sit idle, simply be happy with what I have and accept anything that comes. The stakes are real. Need to do better.