juliawise comments on Existential Risk - Less Wrong

28 Post author: lukeprog 15 November 2011 02:23PM

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Comment author: Randolf 15 November 2011 07:48:48PM *  2 points [-]

If I had been one of those persons with the missile warning and red button, I wouldn't have pressed it even if I knew the warning was real. What use would it be to launch a barrage of nuclear weapons against normal citizens simply because their foolish leaders did so to you? It would only make things worse, and certainly wouldn't save anyone. Primitive needs to revenge can be extremely dangerous with todays technology.

Comment author: juliawise 16 November 2011 09:11:14PM 5 points [-]

This is why you would not have been hired to sit in front of the button, even given the Soviets' dubious hiring techniques. Also, if you had been raised in Soviet Russia, your thoughts on the topic might have been different.

Comment author: wedrifid 17 November 2011 03:22:42AM 2 points [-]

This is why you would not have been hired to sit in front of the button, even given the Soviets' dubious hiring techniques. Also, if you had been raised in Soviet Russia, your thoughts on the topic might have been different.

I wouldn't say that. Someone who cares about the issues is likely to lie for signalling purposes and do what he or she can to get the role.

Comment author: juliawise 17 November 2011 09:22:16PM 5 points [-]

But less likely to have had the foresight to have gotten into the right job track at age 15.

Comment author: Randolf 17 November 2011 02:47:14PM *  0 points [-]

I could indeed simply lie and play the role of an obeying soldier to get the position I were looking for. However, it is of course true that if I had born and lived in a country where people are continiously fed with nationalist propaganda, I would be less likely to disobey the rules or to think it's wrong to retalite.