ciphergoth comments on New Year's Predictions Thread - Less Wrong

18 Post author: MichaelVassar 30 December 2009 09:39PM

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Comment author: mattnewport 05 March 2010 06:46:40PM 0 points [-]

One or more developed countries will see significant civil unrest due to ongoing problems with the economy (50%).

This is the sort of thing I was thinking of and expect to see more of.

Greek Protests

Comment author: Douglas_Knight 06 March 2010 05:47:22AM 3 points [-]

Haven't riots been going on in Greece pretty regularly? (eg, 11/2009) Did you put at 50% the chance that the riots in Greece would stop? Maybe it was reasonable to put at 50% the chance that the riots would stay at 2009 levels and 50% the chance that they would go back to 12/2008 levels, but it's not clear that "significant" should mean that.

Comment author: mattnewport 06 March 2010 10:05:27AM *  0 points [-]

Yes, Greece had riots in 2009. I expected increased civil unrest in developed countries in 2010. My impression is that there is more civil unrest in Greece now than there was last year but I don't know how to objectively measure that which makes me think I was not specific enough with my prediction in this case.

Since nobody took the other side of the bet it doesn't matter too much. I'm more interested in how my investments pan out as they represent real bets on my predictions - it's not much use being right if you can't turn it into profit.