Technologos comments on Less Wrong Q&A with Eliezer Yudkowsky: Ask Your Questions - Less Wrong

16 Post author: MichaelGR 11 November 2009 03:00AM

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Comment author: gwern 11 November 2009 05:46:15PM *  0 points [-]

I don't think it is answered. The person who says they voted is not Eliezer, and his general comment about whom to vote for says nothing about whether he himself actually votes; just that he voted at one time in the past. (I can recommend that you wear a parachute while skydiving, but that doesn't mean I do or do not think skydiving is something worth doing & have done it myself & will do it again.)

Comment author: Technologos 11 November 2009 08:10:45PM *  1 point [-]

Even if it were not, Eliezer followed up further down that comment tree suggesting that his choice was clear in the 2008 elections.

I figured "I was therefore obliged to vote for third parties wherever possible, to penalize the Republicrats for getting grabby" seemed like the kind of argument that doesn't apply to only a single election.

Perhaps I'm confused by "the person who says they voted is not Eliezer;" that quote, after all, was from this article he wrote.

Comment author: gwern 11 November 2009 11:48:01PM 0 points [-]

I was referring to CronoDAS who said that they voted in '08. Eliezer didn't; 'whenever possible' is pretty slippery.

(Not that I think there's any point to asking how Eliezer votes, being that he lives in California, I thought. In a state like that, voting is a pure waste of time, unless someone has come up with a really ingenious version of Newcomb's Paradox showing you should vote even when you know your vote won't make a difference.)

Comment author: RobinZ 12 November 2009 02:59:09AM 0 points [-]

Margins matter - politicians don't want to take a chance when they don't have to, and if it looks like some policy leads to weaker support or stronger support, they act accordingly.