NancyLebovitz comments on Crime and punishment - Less Wrong

39 Post author: PhilGoetz 24 March 2011 09:53PM

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Comment author: NancyLebovitz 26 March 2011 12:02:09PM 3 points [-]

Being forbidden by law means that the Powers That Be will take forceful steps to stop people doing it, even if they want to.

Being forbidden by law means that the Powers that Be might take forceful steps in an effort to stop people from doing it.

The law is only an approximation of government behavior, and there are many laws which are no longer enforced.

Comment author: gjm 26 March 2011 09:50:45PM 0 points [-]

Agreed: "might, and in some sense are supposed to" would have been better than "will".