lawrence-hg257 comments on Lonely Dissent - Less Wrong

34 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 28 December 2007 04:23AM

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Comment author: lawrence-hg257 06 March 2015 02:02:46PM 0 points [-]

But the question is, is the expected utility and the probability of success of dissenting high enough to outweigh the risks? A true dissenter would face the risk of being ostracised and potentially losing their grounds to be paid attention to - in which case only the dissenter would experience any change: that of the quality of their life experience drastically dropping. Furthermore, what if dissenting actually causes a decrease in expected utility? (e.g. It would be better to conform now and dissent later when one has gained a high enough status to be listened to.)

When does the benefit outweigh the cost? When is it better to outright dissent rather than to introduce a shift in thinking from inside the pack?