Another monthly installment of the rationality quotes thread. The usual rules apply:
Please post all quotes separately, so that they can be upvoted or downvoted separately. (If they are strongly related, reply to your own comments. If strongly ordered, then go ahead and post them together.)
Do not quote yourself.
Do not quote from Less Wrong itself, Overcoming Bias, or HPMoR.
No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.
Use stone to seal off the air supply to a cage of birds.
Economist: Sell a precious stone (diamond? Ruby?). Use the proceeds to purchase several dozen chickens. The purchase produces an expected number of bird deaths equal to approximately the number of chickens purchased through tiny changes at the margins, making chicken farming and slaughter slightly more viable.
Omega: Use stone to kill the dog that would have killed the cat that will now kill 40 birds over its extended lifespan.
Another monthly installment of the rationality quotes thread. The usual rules apply: