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.

roystgnr comments on Politics is hard mode - Less Wrong Discussion

27 Post author: RobbBB 21 July 2014 10:14PM

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

Article Navigation

Comments (107)
Tags: communication mindkiller politics

Comments (107)

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

Comment author: roystgnr 22 July 2014 02:20:27PM 8 points [-]

"politics is like that scene in a thriller where the two guys are fighting to reach a single gun; but in this case the handle and trigger are actually poisoned."

If we're looking for simple, popular, fictional metaphors for the importance and danger of politics, it's convenient that Peter Jackson adapted one into a blockbuster trilogy that sold three billion dollars worth of tickets.

Politics is my precious...

Comment author: Vulture 23 July 2014 04:48:29PM 3 points [-]

Initial reaction: Yeah! Politics is the one ring! That's way more succinct!

30 seconds later: "Politics is the One Ring" - waaaiit, this doesn't quite seem like an accurate representation of the proper incentive structure....

Comment author: Lumifer 23 July 2014 05:00:59PM *  1 point [-]

Politics is my precious...

So -- the single most important thing in the world? Worth any sacrifice?

I don't think this metaphor works well...

Comment author: roystgnr 23 July 2014 08:36:13PM 1 point [-]

Worth any sacrifice not to use for itself, but to keep its full potential power from being used against you. As for "the single most important thing in the world", not quite, but "permanent stagnation under totalitarianism" is usually (IMHO correctly) near the top of lists of existential risks.

Powered by Reddit Powered by Reddit