Luke_A_Somers comments on Buy Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace - Less Wrong

21 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 04 February 2008 09:42PM

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Comment author: Luke_A_Somers 09 January 2012 05:32:59PM *  3 points [-]

Well, any legislation you like would make you take a hit, and legislation you don't like would pay out.

But it's not a great idea overall without a very canny system in place to regulate what measures are put forward. Suppose EvilCorp puts up $1M in favor of making puppy smashing legal. Opponents then put up $1.1M and the measure is defeated. This pays out to EvilCorp. Then EvilCorp opens a motion to legalize kitten smashing and puts up $2.1M, including what they gained from the puppy smashing result. Now the opponents need to put up $2.2M...

At this point, EvilCorp can recover their $1M investment without slowing themselves down appreciably.

Every time you get your way, you're paying your opponents to win or extort you harder next time.