dclayh15 March 2010 02:49:19AM1 point [-]

First, it's only 30,000 for neuro.

I was just quoting P&T's number. That show aired in 2004 so I assumed the price would be lower today (not to mention the neuro discount).

Second, your utility in hookers is sublinear.

Of course, that's why it's a lower bound :)

dclayh15 March 2010 01:57:48AM2 points [-]

Huh, I had completely forgotten that P&T did an anti-cryonics bit. Disappointing. On the other hand, their basic point ("Why not spend that $125,000 on hookers?") reminded me of Reedspacer's Lower Bound.

dclayh13 March 2010 11:18:07PM1 point [-]

Maybe because e^0 = 1?

In response to comment by FAWS on Spring 2010 Meta Thread
dclayh11 March 2010 06:29:31PM2 points [-]

Hm, I was going to propose that the threads continue on the 1st and 15th of each month (the 14th of February, of course), and be titled "Open Thread: Ides of March edition", "Open Thread: Calends of April edition", etc.. Because the classical Roman calendar is awesome.

dclayh05 March 2010 12:14:03AM1 point [-]

Much less in costume!

dclayh03 March 2010 07:52:05PM3 points [-]

In fact it's almost exactly the mirror image of Eliezer's Gung Nyvra Zrffntr, which is pretty awesome.

dclayh02 March 2010 07:51:04AM0 points [-]

I usually try not to push people on this particular point unless I think they're already very high-level; my default assumption is that people are very akrasic and fragile when it comes to charity.

Fair enough.

However, I'm raising my estimate of Landsburg's level based on this

Glad to hear it; I've been a fan of his for years, based mainly on his Slate column and his first two books.

dclayh01 March 2010 09:56:15PM* 0 points [-]

I got 0.6N (=6.7e-11 * 2e30 * 100/(1.5e11)^2). Still small, but potentially measurable. (Er, except for the whole frame-of-reference thing mentioned above.)

dclayh01 March 2010 07:19:59AM4 points [-]

That sounds like a koan.

dclayh28 February 2010 09:13:17AM* 5 points [-]

Obligatory quote re. your footnote 2:

—Then, said Cranly, you do not intend to become a protestant?

—I said that I had lost the faith, Stephen answered, but not that I had lost self-respect. What kind of liberation would that be to forsake an absurdity which is logical and coherent and to embrace one which is illogical and incoherent?

—James Joyce

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