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Edge cases don't invalidate the rule 2022-04-08T04:17:41.133Z

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Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Humans do acausal coordination all the time · 2022-11-03T16:58:21.702Z · LW · GW

If the counts weren't public until after voting were closed, do you think people would vote significantly differently?

My instinct says they wouldn't.

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Moloch Hasn’t Won · 2022-07-28T20:47:33.042Z · LW · GW

What was this image?

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Testing PaLM prompts on GPT3 · 2022-05-12T17:54:52.203Z · LW · GW

Insufficient data for meaningful answer

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Judge Overturns Transportation Mask Mandate · 2022-04-21T01:00:52.250Z · LW · GW

Nothing?

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Judge Overturns Transportation Mask Mandate · 2022-04-21T00:59:50.761Z · LW · GW

I don't think these examples are quite security theater.  A good bike lock makes your bike harder to steal; a "theatrical" bike lock would mostly just make it look harder to steal.  Even a skinny cable lock, the sort you can cut with fingernail clippers, keeps it from being stolen by passers-by who don't have fingernail clippers.

 

(Of course, the same argument applies to the TSA, so maybe I'm just wrong about what "security theater" means.)

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Edge cases don't invalidate the rule · 2022-04-08T18:15:13.739Z · LW · GW

Exceptions (which I think is what you mean by edge cases) DO indicate that a rule is incomplete or not universal.

Yes!  But rules don't have to be complete or universal to be acceptable.

Rules about people should be more formally correct than is implied by this post.

I think I see what you're getting at.  My instinct kinda runs the other way, though: if people don't fit neatly into categories (and you care about the edge cases), it might be better to throw out the rule entirely rather than formalize it and categorize those edge cases.  Could you give an example of where formalizing would be helpful?

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Naming the Nameless · 2022-03-31T00:29:32.296Z · LW · GW

Could you expand on this?  What are the fnords?

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Jetlag, Nausea, and Diarrhea are Largely Optional · 2022-03-22T20:06:37.298Z · LW · GW

How do you avoid bug bites?

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Six economics misconceptions of mine which I've resolved over the last few years · 2022-01-05T00:23:37.693Z · LW · GW

That makes sense.  I guess I'm mostly reacting to the last sentence, which adds a moral aspect.

(I'm also not 100% sure how much the last sentence is a joke, or deliberate exaggeration?)

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Six economics misconceptions of mine which I've resolved over the last few years · 2022-01-03T19:45:47.509Z · LW · GW

lest we see anyone waver in their moral resolution to internalize most externalities.

 

If I find out that internalizing externalities is harmful, I don't want to do it!  It might be harmful to moralize this, in case it makes it harder to change our minds?

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Mystery Hunt 2022 · 2021-12-15T01:53:34.098Z · LW · GW

I'm planning to participate, if I can find some folks to work together in person!

I'm in Redwood City.

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Akrasia Tactics Review · 2021-12-14T21:13:13.388Z · LW · GW

What is this trick?  The video seems to be gone.

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Worst Commonsense Concepts? · 2021-11-18T00:41:14.807Z · LW · GW

I think this might conflate "science" with something like "statistics".  It's possible to study things like personal experience, just harder at scale.

The Hollywood-scientist example illustrates this, I think.  Dr. Physicist finds something that wildly conflicts with her current understanding of the world, and would be hard to put a number on, so she concludes that it can't and shouldn't be reasoned about using the scientific method.

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Bayeswatch 7: Wildfire · 2021-09-09T20:09:07.289Z · LW · GW

I don't get the punchline.  Do they plan to capture and use the AGI rather than killing it?  Spread more zombie plague, for some reason?  Did they start it in the first place?  Does the briefcase have vaccines in it?

Comment by Adam Selker (adam-selker) on Movable Housing for Scalable Cities · 2020-05-19T22:17:08.994Z · LW · GW

Good solution IMO, and I would recommend keeping the "Repost" in the title. It doesn't cost much.