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polymathwannabe comments on Open Thread, January 4-10, 2016 - Less Wrong
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Do you already know what partner you'll have for this? This is literally a life-or-death situation. You can never be too paranoid.
There is also a chance of creating life, so... I guess the risks cancel each other out... for some kind of utilitarianism.
Is the % risk for death from STD the same as the % risk for pregnancy? Also, maternal transmission of STDs make life horrible for the fetus.
http://markmanson.net/std-guide
You mean like crossing the street?
I'm unsure what the intention of the comparison is. If you want to stretch it all you can, swallowing is a life-or-death situation. But you don't routinely have to teach your kids to practice "safe swallowing," whereas "safe street crossing" lessons for kids do exist.
The intention of comparison is, basically, "unnecessary dramatisation".
I suspect Clarity was thinking about unprotected sex with somebody they've already been in a stable monogamous relationship for a while (possibly partly because they want a baby), whereas polymathwannabe was thinking about something more like a one-night stand with a stranger. But if the latter is right, the dramatization ain't that unnecessary, at least in certain geographical locales.
In such geographical locales a lot of things, starting with just being there, tend to be a matter of life and death.
My take is that he meant a black and white view of risk, which can be visualized using a SAFE | RISK coin rather than a SAFE ------------------ RISK continuum.
And to be somewhat on topic, in some areas of the world crossing the street can be either safer or more risky.
I'd love to see the correlation across locations between risk of street-crossing and risk of unprotected sex. I suspect it's noticeably positive.
Hm :-) You'll probably find two clusters: the first one will correspond to big cities and the other will correspond to failed states. Though I'm not sure there's that much car traffic in the failed states.
Statistically, withdrawal is just as effective as condoms at preventing pregnancy; STDs are a bigger concern but the risk can be minimized with a checkup. However, condoms are not effective at preventing transmission of many types of STDs either.
HIV is the only non-transient or trivial STI.
The actual risk is negligible for non-regular heterosexual contact with a given person of unknown status.
However, the anxiety will be harmful enough that I'd rather not.