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.

TimS comments on How did my baby die and what is the probability that my next one will? - Less Wrong Discussion

22 Post author: deprimita_patro 19 January 2016 06:24AM

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

Comments (23)

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

Comment author: gjm 19 January 2016 03:37:32PM 4 points [-]

Yup, that sounds very plausible. Would your unwillingness to give a number be changed if your client said -- as I think the OP here would -- something like this? "I understand that any probability you give me may be wrong in ways it's prohibitively hard to prevent, and I promise that I am not looking for perfection or anything like it. I understand that providing a probability may mean extra work, and I am happy to pay for that extra work. And I assure you that my own understanding of probability is extremely good and I will not do silly things like assuming that if you say something's unlikely and it happens then you're incompetent."

Comment author: TimS 19 January 2016 03:43:14PM 6 points [-]

No, my answer would not change.

First, I don't believe the assertion. Second, the kind of work to generate this kind of answer is different from providing service for the client. I enjoy advocating for clients, not meta-level analysis of advocacy. Think medical care vs. MetaMed.

Comment author: gjm 19 January 2016 03:52:36PM 5 points [-]

Fair enough. (In so far as you're typical, it sounds like the OP is unlikely to get any further benefit from talking to more medical professionals.)