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army1987 comments on Open thread, July 23-29, 2013 - Less Wrong Discussion

9 Post author: David_Gerard 22 July 2013 10:34AM

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Comment author: elharo 27 July 2013 07:51:22PM 1 point [-]

Can someone remind me of the formal name for these fallacies:

a) an event such as a death that happens near you is weighted more heavily than one that happens far away; even if far away there are many more deaths.

b) an event that happens to people more like you is weighted more heavily than one that happens to people less like you.

and in general any other fallacies that cause people to weight the deaths of unrelated people in their own country/culture more heavily than the deaths of people further removed from them. Thanks.

Comment author: [deleted] 28 July 2013 09:12:02AM 6 points [-]

How's that a fallacy? The utility function is not up for grabs. If I care more about people I know than about people I don't know, I may be evil/selfish/whatever, but I'm not (epistemically) wrong just because of that.

Comment author: elharo 28 July 2013 12:51:47PM 0 points [-]

Fair enough. Perhaps it's not technically a "fallacy" though it can easily become so when combined with some other common ideas. But I'm still trying to come up with existing research or common phraseology on these questions.

Comment author: [deleted] 28 July 2013 12:56:21PM *  1 point [-]

But I'm still trying to come up with existing research or common phraseology on these questions.

See this. :-)

Comment author: [deleted] 28 July 2013 01:59:23PM 0 points [-]

it can easily become so when combined with some other common ideas

Like what?

Comment author: elharo 28 July 2013 04:19:49PM 0 points [-]

Utilitarianism is one example. "All men are created equal" is another.