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drethelin comments on Open Thread, June 2-15, 2013 - Less Wrong Discussion
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I'll say what I said on facebook: The most effective paths historically for the bettering of the human condition are technology and trade. The net effect of the republican party on american well-being, however crazy they are, is way smaller than cheap cellphones or widespread computers or good public transportation. You can spend 20 years getting to a position of power as a republican or you can spend 20 years inventing energy storage systems or cheap and accessible travel or healthy but palatable alternatives to snack foods that are more achievable and have the positive benefit of providing you with experience and connections that aren't based 100 percent on lies.
Depends on your comparative advantage. For many people its easier to become a moderately successful politician than meaningfully change the progress of world technological development.
We should ask ourselves, "How much of my impression of what sorts of interventions are effective comes from fact, and how much from the self-promotion of people who would like to solicit my assistance or deter my interference?"
When it comes to creating public transportation look at the case of the Uber amendment in DC. If you have bad people in political control they won't allow you to set up your cheap and accessible public transportation.