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Just because something is social signaling (which it undoubtedly is in Theils case), doesn't mean it isn't true, and that you shouldn't follow the advice.
by tw1010 8y ago
Just because something is social signaling (which it undoubtedly is in Theils case), doesn't mean it isn't true, and that you shouldn't follow the advice.
- coldtea 8y agoJust because a "virtue signaling" statement can also be true, doesn't in any way infer that his advice is good. If anything, it gives him a motive to say it (virtue signal) which is not "to tell the truth". So, the advice might very well be true and we should very well follow it. But thus far we have absolutely no arguments as to if that's the case.
- tw1010 8y agoYou're prematurely moving the debate one abstraction layer up, making the issue about the whether a general virtue signal can ever contain truth. (That's an interesting discussion and I agree with you that it's definitely likely that virtue signaling statements are less truthful in general than "honest" statements.) Had you looked down on the concrete statement we're discussing, clearly no argument would be needed. Clearly it's good advice to "do things which wouldn't be done if you wouldn't be there to solve it", what's there even to argue about.