Clarity comments on Rationality Quotes Thread January 2016 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: elharo 01 January 2016 04:00PM

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Comment author: Clarity 13 January 2016 04:38:30AM 0 points [-]

That's a ridiculously pessimistic thing to say

Comment author: Viliam 25 January 2016 09:03:11AM 0 points [-]

How would you feel about this?

Pareto efficiency, or Pareto optimality, is a state of allocation of resources in which it is impossible to make any one individual better off without making at least one individual worse off.

Or about a definition of a (local) maximum that says that all other (adjacent) options are worse?

Comment author: Clarity 26 January 2016 04:01:21AM -1 points [-]

I don't have any particular feelings about since I don't see how you are relating it to the quotes. Could you please clarify?

I believe it's a concept and reckon it's a pretty good Wikipedia article...

Comment author: Lumifer 13 January 2016 03:50:17PM 2 points [-]

I suspect you read this as "most (well-meaning) potential changes" while The_Lion means it as "most (random) potential changes".

Most random changes to highly organized structures would, indeed, be awful.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 14 January 2016 10:37:40AM 1 point [-]

All the changes that people make are "well-meaning", even those being made by ISIS. A word that better makes the distinction is "intentional".

Comment author: CCC 19 January 2016 10:32:23AM 1 point [-]

Not necessarily. I know that if I get really angry, I sometimes make (generally small) decisions out of a desire to hurt whatever I am angry at. I don't think that counts as "well-meaning".

Comment author: Lumifer 14 January 2016 03:47:55PM 1 point [-]

All the changes that people make are "well-meaning", even those being made by ISIS.

Depends on your definition of "well" and that line of approach would lead us into the usual definitional morass :-/

And, technically speaking, there is also compulsive behaviour.

Comment deleted 14 January 2016 08:05:38AM [-]
Comment author: Lumifer 14 January 2016 03:45:56PM 1 point [-]

The road to hell was never in need of repair.