AlexMennen comments on Voting is like donating thousands of dollars to charity - Less Wrong

32 Post author: Academian 05 November 2012 01:02AM

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Comment author: selylindi 06 November 2012 02:42:10PM *  0 points [-]

Forget 1 in 10 million. For my state (Texas), a simple binomial model suggests my chance of being the critical vote is about 1 in 10^51121. I did vote, but it wasn't due to a instrumental pursuit of expected value. For me, it was an intrinsic value of civic participation and a feeling of connection with the political struggles of past generations. These things are part of my notion of the good life. If they're not part of yours, that's fine.

Comment author: AlexMennen 06 November 2012 03:04:58PM 0 points [-]

A binomial distribution is far too narrow.