You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

daenerys comments on Call for Anonymous Narratives by LW Women and Question Proposals (AMA) - Less Wrong Discussion

20 [deleted] 09 September 2012 08:39AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (364)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Alicorn 12 September 2012 06:52:37AM *  4 points [-]

I might actually not want to buy one. (When no loss is involved I take the chance at a million.) I might want to buy five, or go in together with several friends on one.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 12 September 2012 08:45:01AM 7 points [-]

(instantaneous reflex activated)

What if I gave you $500, then asked you if you wanted to spend it on the ticket?

I'd also like to know whether some unexpected expense, like needing a $500 dental crown, would change your mind about accepting the free $500 instead of the free ticket.

Comment author: Alicorn 12 September 2012 03:26:28PM 1 point [-]

If you gave me $500 and then immediately alerted me to the availability of a ticket you'd probably catch me before the $500 entered the "my money" mental bin, because I'd still be a little confused about why you randomly handed me $500 and expect to have to give it back.

Risks of medium-sized unexpected expenses like that are already factored into how conservative I am about handling money on this scale, so I don't think that would have an effect.