> "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:
>
> He hasn't read my Web pages.
I know that feeling. The surprising part is that my father *is* very web literate.
> Though I tried hard enough to get him to read my pages when they first
> came out, he's always been convinced it's just youthful folly, not worth
> wasting his time.
Ditto. Even though my father is 75 and I'm 42, the gap remains.
> To your family, you're always three years old, and that's not a renewable
> resource. I don't want to disrupt it by forcing my true self in on their
> cozy illusions.
The resource is an emotional resource that doesn't change much as they realize that you may actually be able talk, walk and even think for yourself. The illusion disruption occurs when independent outside notice to allows the light bulb to slowly brighten. My family did a reality check at my Wired News quote from the Extro4 conference. Parents have to expand their perspective to allow holding multiple images of you simultaneously. Some don't manage to accomplish this (and so deny the existence of some images). Some only manage to flip from one image to another (so you always have to check who they believe they are interacting with). However, it is entirely feasible to get people to interact with *you*, rather than the image(s) they have of you. It usually isn't easy though.
Robert