Seems to me that another generalization here is "the universe does not care about your good intentions."
Which can be taken in a Lovecraft direction — blind uncaring universe — but also in a Dennett direction — caring about other people's intentions is one of those adaptations that make persons different from the rest of the universe's matter.
I agree. Eliezer definitely explores the Lovecraftian version of the generalization, and the Dennett version is sort of an ongoing theme in some of his other posts.
Gambling rings do sometimes buy up large chunks of lottery tickets, I am not sure about hedge funds but I wouldn't be surprised.
ah, someone did point that out, at the end.
Today's post, Burch's Law, was originally published on 08 March 2007. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):
Just because your ethics require an action doesn't mean the universe will exempt you from the consequences. Manufactured cars kill an estimated 1.2 million people per year worldwide. (Roughly 2% of the annual planetary death rate.) Not everyone who dies in an automobile accident is someone who decided to drive a car. The tally of casualties includes pedestrians. It includes minor children who had to be pushed screaming into the car on the way to school. And yet we still manufacture automobiles, because, well, we're in a hurry. The point is that the consequences don't change no matter how good the ethical justification sounds.
Discuss the post here (rather than in the comments to the original post).
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