PaulG comments on The Tragedy of the Anticommons - Less Wrong

37 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 15 March 2009 05:32PM

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Comment author: PaulG 16 March 2009 12:57:04AM 1 point [-]

I don't agree that by failing to put a value on life you necessarily also fail to discover the concept of underuse. Doesn't it follow immediately from the fact that you can have a positive externality that you would necessarily also have underuse?

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 16 March 2009 10:27:21AM 1 point [-]

Didn't say it was an absolute - yes, you can certainly discover the concept of underuse even if you refuse to put a value on life. But your odds of doing so are lower than if you would have.

Comment author: PaulG 16 March 2009 03:43:26PM 1 point [-]

I'll agree that they are lower, but I am not sure that they are significantly lower. It seems to me that ANY positive externality would be evidence for underuse and you can think of a large number of them without ever putting a value on life.

That said, I do think that it is obviously important to put a value on life so that you can do cost-benefit analyses.