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Emile comments on Is Pragmatarianism (Tax Choice) Less Wrong? - Less Wrong Discussion
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Comments (68)
A bit of a nitpick (which could explain some of the reception you're getting here): I don't think the term "Pragmatarianism" is a good description for your proposal, it's just an unrelated name that sounds good. Might as well say 'I'm calling this proposal "Sensible Tax Policy"' or 'My idea, called "Reasonablism", is that...', etc.
A more modest and descriptive name would probably be better received, especially in places who dislike marketing.
You think "pragmatarianism" sounds good? Have you said it out loud? My tongue usually trips over it. I'm not a writer or a wordsmith so anybody is more than welcome to come up with a better name. Preferably one that meets the google alerts standard.
From my perspective, giving your taxes directly to the EPA is as practical as giving a donation directly to the World Wildlife Fund. Having to convince millions and millions of voters in order for more of your own taxes to be spent on the environment is the epitome of impractical. Yet, we do it because that's how we've always done it.
The issue isn't so much that it sounds good except in so far as it has a name connected to a word with positive connotations and the actual degree of connection to that word is slim. I'd suggest "Personal tax allocation" or something similar which is more free of connotations.
Ha, the connection is slim for you! It's fat for me. But you're arguing that it's slim for most people. I can see that.
I do appreciate your suggestion..."Personal tax allocation"... but I'd really prefer one word that meets the google alert standard. By that I mean you should be able to subscribe to a google alert for the word (without quotes) and not have to worry about being inundated with irrelevant result notifications. As faulty as "pragmatarianism" is... it really meets the google alert standard. Every single notification I receive is relevant to the topic.
It may help to keep in mind that the "Google alert standard" while probably personally satisfying, is more likely to signal weirdness.
It's weird to want to keep up-to-date on topics that interest you? Uh, I take it you don't subscribe to any google alerts?
No, but that's not the people who are being aimed at here. Having a new word comes across as weird to people who haven't heard of an idea before. And if you tell them that an idea is no new and is so much just one's person that they are using a name so they can keep track of who else is talking about (which incidentally also can potentially come across as egotistical or overly sensitive).
Personally, I think it's great, and not at all weird, that I can subscribe to a google alert for "futarchy" and not have to worry about being swamped with irrelevant results.
It's pretty important that important concepts have unique "tags". Otherwise you run into problems. For example...
The concept of "exit" is fundamentally important. But good luck trying to search for relevant pages just using that word. You'd have to do a bit of scrolling before you'd find any pages dedicated to the concept as its used here... Exit, Voice, and Loyalty
In my opinion, it would be a really good idea if somebody gave this concept a unique name. This would help people learn about its relevance.