justinpombrio

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Woah, woah, slow down. You're talking about the edge cases but have skipped the simple stuff. It sounds like you think it's obvious, or that we're likely to be on the same page, or that it should be inferrable from what you've said? But it's not, so please say it.

Why is growing up so important?

Reading between the lines, are you saying that the only reason that it's bad for a human baby to be in pain is that it will eventually grow into a sapient adult? If so: (i) most people, including myself, both disagree and find that view morally reprehensible, (ii) the word "sapient" doesn't have a clear or agreed upon meaning, so plenty of people would say that babies are sentient; if you mean to capture something by the word "sapient" you'll have to be more specific. If that's not what you're saying, then I don't know why you're talking about uploading animals instead of talking about how they are right now.

As a more general question, have you ever had a pet?

By far the biggest and most sudden update I've ever had is Dominion, a documentary on animal farming:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQRAfJyEsko

It's like... I had a whole pile of interconnected beliefs, and if you pulled on one it would snap most of the way back into place after. And Dominion pushed the whole pile over at once.

Meta comment: I'm going to be blunt. Most of this sequence has been fairly heavily downvoted. That reads to me as this community asking to not have more such content. You should consider not posting, or posting elsewhere, or writing many fewer posts of much higher quality (e.g. spending more time, doing more background research, asking someone to proofread). As a data point, I've only posted a couple times, and I spent at least, I dunno, 10+ hours writing each post. As an example of how this might apply to you, if you wrote this whole sequence as a single "reference on biases" and shared that, I bet it would be better received.

Will you fly to the Sahel with a backpack full of antibiotics?

I imagine you suggesting this, a bunch of people nodding along in agreement, then no one doing it because of personal safety and because it's weird.

People often study on their own for the GREs or for the Actuarial exams. In both cases the results are taken seriously, there are a ton of prep materials, and I think the exams are funded by a flat fee to test takers (which works due to the magic of economy of scale).

Person who doesn't know squat about poker here. The first example was clear: they disagreed about whether to fold or call, and it was right on the edge. Especially since where the other player was from was relevant.

It was long for someone who doesn't know poker though.

Wow, this got heated fast. Partly my fault. My assumptions were unwarranted and my model therefore unrealistic. Sorry.

I think we've been talking past each other. Some clarifications on my position:

  • I'm not suggesting that one only reclines if one is given permission to do so from the person behind them. I'm suggesting cooperation on the act that is controlled by one person but effects two people. If reclining is a minor convenience to the person in front, but would crush the legs of the person behind, it does not happen. If the person in front has a back problem and the person in back is short, reclining does happen.
  • None of the blame goes toward other passengers. The blame all goes to the airlines. If you want to recline but don't get to, that's the airline's fault. If you don't want the person in front of you to recline but they do, that's the airline's fault. They should make better seat arrangements. I would preferentially fly on an airline that didn't stuff me in like cattle. I'm all for protesting with you about this.

If you disagree with this, would you agree that if airplanes were naturally occurring rather than being engineered, then the decision of whether to recline should be a conversation between the two people it effects? If so, what breaks the symmetry between the two effected people, when the situation is engineered by the airline?

EDIT: Or, to get at my emotional crux, if my very long legs would be smooshed if you were to recline, and reclining was a minor convenience for you, would you say "ok, I won't recline, but let's be angry at the airline for putting us in this situation", or "nope I'm reclining anyways, blame the airline"?

EDIT: I no longer endorse this model.

Say that flights are on average 80% full, 20% of passengers are tall and will be miserable for the whole flight if they're reclined into, 50% of passengers want to recline, and planes are shaped like donuts so that every seat has a seat behind it.

If passengers behave like you, then 8% of passengers are miserable in exchange for 50% of passengers getting to recline. If passengers instead ask before reclining (or unrecline if asked to), then 0% of passengers are miserable and 42% get to recline. The passengers pick between these two situations.

The second situation is better than the first. Should airlines not allow seats to recline, or increase spacing between seats by (say) 12% and thus increase ticket prices by (say) 8%, because passengers like you insist on choosing the first situation over the second?

An internet search suggests that extra legroom tends to cost $20-$100, typically in between, which matches what I remember seeing. Have you seen it for $10? If so I need to pay more attention next time and shell out the $10!

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