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Bugmaster comments on Think Like a Supervillain - Less Wrong
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From this I take it that "let's shoot all these scientists in the head" is, by your reckoning, the most optimal solution under this scenario ? I personally don't believe so, but I could, of course, be wrong. Also, I realize full well that if you are truly committed to thinking like a supervillain, you will attempt to deceive me in your reply (should you choose to reply at all). But this exposes another problem with supervillainous thinking: it sets up a positive feedback loop in your own mind, which is rather difficult to break out of. This is part of the reason why Lex Luthor keeps trying to kill Superman instead of doing something (indeed, anything) more productive.
What he said sounds a lot more like "whether or not you plan to implement that idea, you shouldn't discuss it in public" than "that is a good idea that should be implemented, but we shouldn't discuss it in public."
That's a good point; I agree that I interpreted Qiaochu_Yuan's words somewhat uncharitably. That wasn't my intention.
On the other hand, as per my comment above, one problem with thinking like a proper supervillain is that you can't share your plans with anyone -- as you have pointed out. This makes it a lot more likely (though, of course, by no means certain) that you'd end up falling prey to your own mental biases, thus embarking on some highly inefficient and/or disastrous path by mistake.
Supervillainy seems perfectly compatible with having some plans that you can share on the internet where everyone can see them, and some plans that you can share with a few other particular people but not everyone, as well as plans that you can share with no one. Your point about the last category of plans is a very good one.