mattnewport comments on Open Thread: May 2010, Part 2 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: Kevin 20 May 2010 07:30PM

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Comment author: mattnewport 21 May 2010 03:24:33AM *  1 point [-]

It doesn't seem outrageous to me. You are asking them to bet against your death. There are many ways to die and due to adverse selection potentially fatal conditions are likely to be over-represented in applicants for their policies. It doesn't seem unreasonable for them to try and leave themselves as much leeway as possible in detecting attempted fraud. It's just sound underwriting.

Comment author: Alicorn 21 May 2010 03:28:40AM 4 points [-]

I don't object to their wanting the sample. In fact, I can't think of much I'd reasonably expect them to test for that would cause me not to give it to them. But I want them to tell me what it is for.

Comment author: mattnewport 21 May 2010 03:42:33AM 9 points [-]

If they were explicit about exactly what tests they planned to do they would open themselves up to gaming. Better to be non-specific and reserve the freedom to adapt. For similar reasons bodies trying to prevent and detect doping in sports will generally not want to publicize exactly what tests they perform.