Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on Why We Can't Take Expected Value Estimates Literally (Even When They're Unbiased) - Less Wrong

75 Post author: HoldenKarnofsky 18 August 2011 11:34PM

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Comment author: multifoliaterose 19 August 2011 10:53:43PM 2 points [-]

Money is the unit of caring and it really is impossible to overstate how much things change when you add money to them.

Can you give an example relevant to the context at hand to illustrate what you have in mind? I don't necessarily disagree, but I presently think that there's a tenable argument that money is seldom the key limiting factor for philanthropic efforts in the developed world.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 19 August 2011 11:50:27PM 1 point [-]

BTW, note that I deleted the "impossible to overstate" line on grounds of its being false. It's actually quite possible to overstate the impact of adding money. E.g., "Adding one dollar to this charity will CHANGE THE LAWS OF PHYSICS."