Kawoomba comments on Notes on Autonomous Cars - Less Wrong

21 Post author: gwern 24 January 2013 03:09AM

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Comment author: Kawoomba 26 January 2013 07:00:57AM -1 points [-]

Which would exactly be supporting my point of "I don't like / object to X, so it should be forbidden for everyone!" I could have used your sentence just the same.

If you think of evidence that would contradict my claim, it would be people who oppose (or even just don't like) X not wishing for X to be illegal.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 27 January 2013 12:00:53AM 0 points [-]

Which would exactly be supporting my point of "I don't like / object to X, so it should be forbidden for everyone!" I could have used your sentence just the same.

At this point your argument appears to be "I and people similar to myself like to force our preferences about cars down other people's thoughts; therefore, so does everybody else". Sounds like a case of psychological projection to me.

Comment author: Kawoomba 27 January 2013 12:12:11AM -1 points [-]

If you've "seen a lot of instances of people who prefer not to drive SUVs themselves attempting to take away the rights of those who do" you seem to have observed the same pattern I did. As for the "force our preferences about cars", I do not know what you mean, since it's not a topic I'm particularly invested in. Personally, I use whatever gets me from A to B comfortably and safe, signalling be damned.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 27 January 2013 12:30:12AM 1 point [-]

Personally, I use whatever gets me from A to B comfortably and safe

I also like the as much ability to choose what point B is, not to mention, the ability to decide at B whether to go to C or back to A without planning out the whole trip ahead of time. This is why I prefer cars to public transportation.

Comment author: [deleted] 26 January 2013 04:34:43PM *  0 points [-]

be people who oppose (or even just don't like) X not wishing for X to be illegal

As I think I already mentioned once, that's a very common (maybe the majority) stance in Italy about abortion.

Comment author: Kawoomba 27 January 2013 12:00:29AM -1 points [-]

A good counter example. It's curious but heartening that a country as seemingly catholic as Italy still accepts the right of others to choose differently. As opposed to, say, Ireland.

Comment author: [deleted] 27 January 2013 01:59:33AM *  1 point [-]

A good counter example.

Vegetarianism is another one -- I don't think many vegetarians wish eating meat was illegal.

It's curious but heartening that a country as seemingly catholic as Italy still accepts the right of others to choose differently. As opposed to, say, Ireland.

Yep. When people complain of the Church's influence in Italian politics, I tell them about Ireland (I studied there for a year), including stuff like alcohol sales being banned on Good Friday. (OTOH, the Church does have ridiculous privileges fiscally in Italy, among other things.)

Who the hell is downvoting everything, anyway?

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 27 January 2013 04:22:18AM 2 points [-]

Vegetarianism is another one -- I don't think many vegetarians wish eating meat was illegal.

Given their stated reason for not eating meat, a reasonable argument could be made that this behavior is hypocritical.

Comment author: [deleted] 27 January 2013 09:55:44AM 2 points [-]

Given their stated reason for not eating meat

What are you talking about? The vegetarians I've met vary widely in their stated reasons not to eat meat, with many of them being some variety of "I just don't like it".