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Silas comments on Buy Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace - Less Wrong
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Robin: Actually, yes. One time I thought of the idea (okay, fantasy) of silently obsoleting government through a massive system of insurance whereby any time legislation is proposed, you make a bet (or equivalently, purchase an insurance policy) such that you become indifferent to the outcome. The result: any legislation will merely make everyone take a monetary hit, but otherwise leave their behavior unchanged. And if that doesn't make everyone cynical about the democracy that results, the fact that politicians will vote in ways that maximize the value of their bets, should do the trick.
I never bothered to look up if anyone actually developed the model more deeply though.
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.