ciphergoth comments on Closet survey #1 - Less Wrong

53 [deleted] 14 March 2009 07:51AM

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Comment author: ciphergoth 14 March 2009 10:27:26AM 11 points [-]

That the most important application of improving rationality is not projects like friendly AI or futarchy, but ordinary politics; it's not discussed here because politics is the mind-killer, but it is also indispensible.

On a more specific political note, that there are plenty of things government can do better than the market, and where government fails the people the correct approach is often not dispensing with government but attempting to improve government by improving democracy.

I know that both of these, especially this last, go against what many here believe, and I don't intend to get into a detailed defence of it here - it's not exactly a fresh topic of debate, and it's not in line with the mission for this site.

Comment author: cabalamat 14 March 2009 01:12:27PM 1 point [-]

the most important application of improving rationality is ... but ordinary politics

True because good policies can have vastly differnet outcomes than bad policies.

there are plenty of things government can do better than the market

And plenty of things the market can do better than the government.