Scott Alexander

I think trying to manipulate people is inherently demeaning to the dignity of humankind.

Nor is it exonerating to say, I also manipulate myself, even if this is true.

For analogy, suppose that Adams was a literal telepathic mind controller.

If he used his powers on himself, mind controlling himself to work harder, that sounds like a good life hack.

But if he used his powers to turn everyone else into his zombie slaves, he would be offending the dignity of humankind.

And, I also use my powers on myself, would be no excuse.

There are a thousand edge cases, complications, things that are sort of manipulation but not quite, and ways that some of those things might be permissible for the greater good.

But none of them change the fact that in the simplest and most typical of cases, like the telepathic mind controller with his zombie slaves, manipulation is wrong.

One might object that there are simple, typical cases on the other side too.

When a job candidate shaves, dresses nicely and gives a firm handshake, this is in some sense manipulating the interviewer, since it's an attempt to influence his decision through some channel other than facts.

I can't draw a perfect bright line here between the good and the bad cases, but I would apply tests like, is this an attempt to more effectively convey true information?

For example, when I shave, it conveys that I'm capable of remembering to shave and care a lot about the interview.

Is this something where failing to do the thing would also convey even more information?

For example, if I didn't shave, it would falsely suggest I really didn't want the job.

And is this something where the target has basically given implied consent to this level of manipulation?

For example, the interviewer wants and even hopes that people will dress nicely for the interview.

Here's a comic strip interview question.

Pointyhead Boss says, Describe your biggest mistake and what you learned from it.

Interviewee responds, I tried to get rid of an old couch by chewing it into tiny pieces and leaving one handful at a time at Starbucks.

The boss says, and what did you learn?