Eugine_Nier comments on Stranger Than History - Less Wrong

52 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 01 September 2007 06:57PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (329)

Sort By: Old

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 25 March 2014 02:48:19AM 2 points [-]

I suspect the answer will be close to "because it increases social welfare"

Ok, now what's the evidence that this is in fact the case?

Comment author: TheAncientGeek 25 March 2014 07:54:28AM 0 points [-]

To a first approxmotion: the fact that there's uptake for it means people judge it to increase their welfare.

Since that is obvious, I suppose you mean there are negative externalities that lead to ne.tt negative welfare. In which case: what is YOUR evidence?

Comment author: Lumifer 25 March 2014 02:04:24PM 3 points [-]

To a first approxmotion: the fact that there's uptake for it means people judge it to increase their welfare.

Which also applies to things like smoking and starting a war with your neighbours. Are you really arguing that everything people do in noticeable numbers increases social welfare?

Comment author: TheAncientGeek 25 March 2014 02:07:33PM *  1 point [-]

"To a first approximation."

We know the negative externalities of the examples you mention.

Comment author: Lumifer 25 March 2014 02:14:38PM 2 points [-]

You're making the argument "people doing X is evidence for X increasing social welfare". I don't think this argument works, first approximation or not.