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AdeleneDawner comments on Open Thread June 2010, Part 2 - Less Wrong
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I doubt there's insurance on the paperclips themselves, but I suspect that having associated them with something generally considered sacred-ish will do a better job of keeping them safe than an insurance policy in any case. It's unlikely that anyone will bother to overcome the taboo on destroying sacred sites to steal or damage them, and if someone does, I can virtually guarantee that the story will be in the news and more paperclips will be donated to the project - possibly several times the number of paperclips that were stolen.
Thanks for the idea!
Noteworthy: In order for that to work as a safety mechanism for getting the paperclips replaced, the project has to be able to get the attention of the media. This project obviously can - we heard about it because it succeeded - but that doesn't necessarily imply that other similar projects will easily be able to do the same.
What are you talking about? I was referring to your idea to increase the total number of paperclips by stealing from those held by the memorial project.
I'm feeling naive at the moment. I assumed that the good idea was encouraging people to use paperclips as part of their sacred projects.
This would serve your purposes by making people a little more like paperclip maximizers.
Clippy has that effect on many people.
Why not do both?
If paper clips are apt to be stolen, then they won't be suitable for any sacred project which depends on aiming at a permanent structure.
There are sacred projects which are evanescent, like sand painting or religious services, but I can't think of any sacred project which is designed to include its stuff being stolen.
*snerk* I thought that might be what you were thinking. I figured you'd get upset if I said so without more evidence, though, if I was wrong.
In that case: 1. It's not likely to work more than once on any given project, especially if the thefts happen too close together in time. A project that is stolen from too frequently is likely to be abandoned. 2. Repeated thefts of paperclips from unrelated projects will almost certainly lead to future projects being disinclined to use paperclips for such things, which would I suspect be a net loss for you. Doing it once won't be a problem in that way, though.
Bonus: If you go through with it, and that makes the news, it should count as some pretty significant evidence that you exist and aren't a roleplaying human's character.
ETA: Oh, and it'll probably work better if you make it look like vandalism, not just a mysterious disappearance - damage the place a little, so it looks better for the media. You can look for news stories about vandalism for pictures of what the media likes to report on.
Adelene ... please, PLEASE stop giving the "Clippy" character ideas!
Clippy came up with the theft idea all on eir own, actually - my original suggestion can be just as easily parsed as an idea for less costly security for paperclips that are being stored on Earth.
Also, consider: If Clippy is the type of being who would do such a thing, wouldn't it be better for us to know that? (And of course if Clippy is just someone's character, I haven't done anything worse than thumb my nose at a few taboos.)
You said this:
Yes, in response to this:
......which, on reflection, doesn't necessarily imply theft; I suppose it could refer to the memorial getting sucked into a sinkhole or something. Oops?