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Robin Hanson's avatar

I'll admit that I've run my life in part so that it can be told as a heroic story, with myself as the gallant hero of course. And while the story of my utter defeat might be dramatic, I'll prefer other dramatic outcomes.

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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Stuart, the dramatic outcomes aren't necessarily simpler in any sense except that they conform well with simple (and salient) archetypes. If a certain archetype, like "victory", is seen as inherently positive or negative, it can be used as a heuristic shortcut to needing to know the details, but the details can be just as complicated. I suppose it's only a terminological issue, but I wouldn't call this "simplicity bias".

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