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Dmytry comments on On Leverage Research's plan for an optimal world - Less Wrong Discussion

25 Post author: Mitchell_Porter 10 January 2012 09:49AM

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Comment author: Dmytry 11 January 2012 11:53:54AM *  7 points [-]

Well, Jesus (if he ever lived) or someone who was publishing under that pseudonym, tried to make a beneficial contagious ideology. Immediately thereafter, this ideology was adjusted to be more contagious at expense of not being beneficial any more. The new version immediately out-competed old without much struggle, and after it spread you got crusades, witchhunts, and the like.

This kind of stuff simply doesn't work. The contagious memes are subject to redesign. There is a very recent example for you - Godwin's law. I seen Godwin himself try to compare someone to nazis, quite validly in my opinion, to be struck down with reference to 'his law', which came to be merely a tool for denial of historical lessons of holocaust - quite contrarily to the alleged original intent.

There's two kinds of ideas. Ones that are rationally spread out of some form of self interest, and ones that are spread irrationally because they exploit some deficiency in the thought process. Creating more of the latter wont help anyone.

Comment author: [deleted] 19 January 2012 06:47:56AM 6 points [-]

I think you just invented the anti-Godwin. "Know who else tried to make the world a better place? Jesus.

Comment author: [deleted] 20 January 2012 10:51:34PM 1 point [-]

Lol, I'm soo using this exact phrase.