iceman comments on Constructing fictional eugenics (LW edition) - Less Wrong

16 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 29 October 2012 12:41AM

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Comment author: FiftyTwo 29 October 2012 06:50:01PM -2 points [-]

Your Doctor must love you.

Comment author: iceman 29 October 2012 07:14:56PM 0 points [-]

I think there's a difference between a professional who has a legal responsibility to act in your interests, and the government, which doesn't. It's a matter of incentives, and I'm going to attach much more weight to my doctor saying that I should do something for my own good than from a government worker.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 29 October 2012 07:41:49PM 2 points [-]

A more important difference is that I have a lot more choice in my doctor than in my government.

Comment author: FiftyTwo 30 October 2012 12:01:56AM 0 points [-]

I confess the example was facetious. But I still can't empathise with the intuitive dislike of interference. I understand there are pragmatic considerations (e.g. choosing a good doctor) but this seems to go beyond that to being a value in and of itself (thus the original example of it not being a utopia if its run by an interfering government).

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 01 November 2012 04:58:18PM 1 point [-]

Well it won't be. Without the threat of leaving the government has little incentive to intervene benevolently.

Comment author: MugaSofer 01 November 2012 03:46:57PM 1 point [-]

I think there's a difference between a professional who has a legal responsibility to act in your interests, and the government, which doesn't.

Yes, it does. The difference is that you trust your doctor's competence, I suspect.