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Comment by florian on Nonmindkilling open questions · 2012-03-24T14:04:43.797Z · LW · GW

I don't think that's a good question. You're right that, technically, nobody knows, but my impression is that many physicists would be comfortable assigning p > 0.9 that it will.

Comment by florian on Rationality Quotes March 2012 · 2012-03-01T12:11:53.204Z · LW · GW

Making the (flawed) assumption that in a disagreement, they cannot both be wrong.

Comment by florian on A few analogies to illustrate key rationality points · 2011-10-10T16:09:06.597Z · LW · GW

It's a fictional example and it's not that uncommon in fiction to have terminology that's almost, but not entirely like the equivalent in the real world. I find that kind of thing amusing, so I thought the author might have a similar sense of humour, so it could be intentional. But I admit that Occam's razor supports the theory that it's simply a mistake.

Comment by florian on A few analogies to illustrate key rationality points · 2011-10-09T22:05:27.140Z · LW · GW

I assumed that was intentional, as the players would not know the terminology of chess if they had to deduce the rules.

Comment by florian on Recent popular books on human irrationality to recommend to your friends · 2011-08-11T18:41:53.007Z · LW · GW

Sorry, I somehow missed the "recent" in the title.

Comment by florian on Recent popular books on human irrationality to recommend to your friends · 2011-08-11T16:36:10.386Z · LW · GW

I recently read Stuart Sutherland's Irrationality, which also explains a lot of the more common biases and errors in reasoning. Decent book, but -again- probably not a lot of new ideas for less wrongers.

Comment by florian on Offense versus harm minimization · 2011-04-16T15:59:25.749Z · LW · GW

The incentive is weaker than you seem to suggest. Surely, I gain nothing tangible by inducing people to tiptoe carefully around my minefield.

Yes, you do. If everything unpleasant to you causes you a huge amount of suffering instead of, say, mild annoyance, other people (utilitarians) will abstain from doing things that are unpleasant to you as the negative utility to you outweighs the positive utility to them.