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SilasBarta comments on The Price of Life - Less Wrong
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That doesn't follow. From our recognition of the finite value of "very valuable things" like our lives and friendships, it does not follow that we consciously put a specific price on things. Rather, it's a recognition that, for any kind of rational (not-self-defeating) behavior, our actions must be as if they didn't put an infinite value (or price) on anything.
And I hate to say it, but this article is really just telling the LW crowd things it already knows, and, more importantly, already appreciates beyond merely "knowing it in the abstract".
I think you're overestimating the level most LessWrong viewers are on. And anyway, dismissing good posts about elementary rationality stuff "because things discussed are already known" does sound a bit worrysome. We all start at the bottom.
I agree. But note that I was careful to say:
I'm fine with articles that tell us stuff we already know, or that someone wrote an article about before. No one's perfect, we need remindings, the article might present it with a better perspective or explanation, etc. What makes this article different is that LWers don't just know it, they actually appreciate the insight, i.e. put it into practice and successfully avoid errors based on assuming something has infinite value.
And, for that matter, I don't think that any of the newbies, except maybe the really "out-there ones", have made such an error.
Would this imply no Less Wrong readers believe in God?
Also, shedding the belief that life has infinite value is not a quick and simple process. It's more like the beginning of an ongoing process. It requires pricing many things we consider priceless, where plenty of cognitive biases will get in the way.
P.S. You're saying Clippy is "out there"? :)
No need to worry to hate to say it - I want your truthful opinion. I've used your feedback to trim the article back appropriately.
Okay, but my other complaint was going to be that your article is mostly a quote from someone else, and now you've made it even more so!
There's a set of useful links for anyone wanting to investigate the issue; it took a while to find the useful ones. In addition, some people (morendil, NancyLebovitz, bill) have made some useful contributions to this topic in the comments. If you and others still don't think this page is useful, I'll delete the article.
Because of the discussion, and the concise summary and collection of highly applicable links, I recommend against deleting.