Yvain comments on Causal Diagrams and Causal Models - Less Wrong

61 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 12 October 2012 09:49PM

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Comment author: Yvain 13 October 2012 04:30:10AM *  41 points [-]

Yeah, I didn't even mind the topic, but I thought this particular sentence was pretty sketchy:

in the virtue theory of metabolism, lack of exercise actually causes weight gain due to divine punishment for the sin of sloth.

This sounds like a Fully General Mockery of any claim that humans can ever affect outcomes. For example:

in the virtue theory of traffic, drinking alcohol actually causes accidents due to divine punishment for the sin of intemperance

in the virtue theory of conception, unprotected sex actually causes pregnancy due to divine punishment for the sin of lust

And selectively applied Fully General Mockeries seem pretty Dark Artsy.

Comment author: [deleted] 13 October 2012 10:09:09AM *  20 points [-]

in the virtue theory of traffic, drinking alcohol actually causes accidents due to divine punishment for the sin of intemperance

Of course not! The real reason drinkers cause more accidents is that low-conscientiousness people are both more likely to drink before driving and more likely to drive recklessly. (The impairment of reflexes due to alcohol does itself have an effect, but it's not much larger than that due to e.g. sleep deprivation.) If a high-conscientiousness person was randomly assigned to the “drunk driving” condition, they would drive extra cautiously to compensate for their impairment. ;-)

(I'm exaggerating for comical effect, but I do believe a weaker version of this.)