mistake theory
No content on this page itself — see linked references below.
4 linked references
July 29th, 2024
- > When Alice harms Bob, it is likely that one of the following three things went wrong:
- > Model: Alice’s mental picture of what Bob would want, or of what is going on in the situation (which we’ll call her model), was incorrect and led her to behave in ways that caused Bob harm. If she’d had a better model, she would have acted differently, resulting in a better outcome for Bob.
- > Care prioritization: Alice prioritized something else—herself, another person, some abstract value—over Bob. Even if she cares a lot about Bob’s happiness, other factors outweighed her care for him in this situation.
- > Execution: Alice knew what Bob would want and cared enough about him, but failed to execute on bringing about the best Bob-outcome. Her execution failure could be the result of physical limitations, impulsivity, depression, structural barriers, or any of a number of other constraints.
- > Often, the problem is a combination of two or even all three of these: if I had taken the time to think a little about what you would want (a care problem), I would not have made the mistake I made (a model problem) or would have made a plan that actually worked (an execution problem).
December 4th, 2022
- ooooh an interesting piece in synthesizing or transcending mistake theory & conflict theory & game theory
- (haven't actually read the whole thing yet)
December 2nd, 2022
- > To conflict theory and mistake theory let me add a third, confusion theory: we just have different ontological stacks that can't easily be reconciled;
we are lost in the fog with respect to one another
December 1st, 2022
- frame control occurs whenever:
- 1. two people have very different and apparently incommensurate worldviews, due to different histories (usually some mix of traumatic experiences or having thought about stuff others haven't)
- 2. those people are in a situation where at least one of them needs/wants something from the other, ie there's some meaningful power differential
- 3. they don't have the knowledge, skills, emotional slack, or motivation to proactively make space for each others' experience/frame being different and theoretically-commensurable even if it's not known how to make them meet
- both when speaking, and when listening
- and in such a situation, the mere attempt to communicate at all results in a frame battle/struggle
- within which, frame control happens via power differentials, where the more powerful exerts pressure on the less powerful to match frame. this can be happening in multiple dimensions at the same time, in different directions (eg one person has more money than the other, but is also in love with or attracted to the other and terrified of being rejected). charisma and wisdom and intelligence can also add to (or perhaps multiply) someone's power here.