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Lumifer comments on Rationality Quotes Thread March 2015 - Less Wrong
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Is being anti-lottery some kind of badge of honor amongst intelligent people? It is entertainment, not investment. It is spending money to buy a feeling excited expectance. It is like buying a movie ticket. Does anyone consider buying a ticket to scary horror movie irrational? Some people just like that kind of excitement. People who buy lottery tickets just like different kinds of excitement, dream, fantasy.
As for the argument that it is a mis-investment of emotions that is also false, people can decide to work forward the goal then what happens is a lot of grinding, they can still dream about something else, it is not like you cannot dream while you grind. Realistic goals do not need a lot of dream investment but rather time and effort and it is safe to invest dreams in unrealistic ones.
When I have read Eliezer's mis-investment of emotions argument it came accross to me an elitistic Bay Area upper middle class thing. People in slums usually need to grind until they get a better schooling and job experience to escape it, this takes time investment not dream investment, and this leaves them free to dream about one day being a prince.
Why do you need to pay money to someone in order to daydream?
The problem is that "dreaming" often replaces grinding.
Don't people who go to amusement parks or Disneyland basically pay other people in order to have a daydream session? I mean, I can't imagine people walking around dreaming about winning a lottery, it would be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (Now that's a book about humanity outcompeted by a more profitable life form under the guidance of an omnipotent being.)
No, they pay other people to provide experiences for them, experiences which they can't get otherwise on their own.
How is 'you can safely put on a princess's dress when you are in certain company, and pay in some amount of social embarrassment if you are wrong about the company' different from 'you can safely pay a small amount for a chance to put on any dress you want in any company whatsoever'? Buying a ticket is an experience you can't get otherwise on your own. (I mean yes, I largely agree with you, but I am not sure what exactly I agree with, therefore the nitpicking.)
Huh? I don't understand.
Well, in what way is buying a ticket not paying other people to provide you an experience which you can't get otherwise on your own? Earning money is different, you expect to be paid a fixed sum and for many, there are multiple ways to do it.
In the way that I can, on my own, daydream about having a million dollars. I don't need to pay other people for that.
If you want a strictly positive chance at getting a million dollars and the thrill of looking up the lottery drawings to see if you won, then you have to pay for it. People buy lottery tickets to have a fleeting, tangible hope, not just an imagined one.
You have a strictly positive chance of having a rich and unknown to you relative die and leave her fortune to you.
Ah, that's a good point. Yes, if you want the gambling thrill, then you have to pay for it, I agree. However from the expected-loss point of view, going to a casino is much better than buying lottery tickets...