That essay is advising optimizing the log odds of survival when the odds of survival are 0%.
People at the end of their lives may have a do-not-resuscitate policy because they want the dignity of dying on their own terms and not leaving behind a mangled corpse and medical debt. But a DNR policy doesn’t maximize log odds of survival.
Other people may choose to be cryogenically frozen in a country with legal euthanasia, which maximizes log odds of survival. For them, that is a dignified choice. But it’s an unusual set of values and actions.
On LW I see people using the term in both the general way and the specific way. So I think you are both right.
That essay is advising optimizing the log odds of survival when the odds of survival are 0%.
People at the end of their lives may have a do-not-resuscitate policy because they want the dignity of dying on their own terms and not leaving behind a mangled corpse and medical debt. But a DNR policy doesn’t maximize log odds of survival.
Other people may choose to be cryogenically frozen in a country with legal euthanasia, which maximizes log odds of survival. For them, that is a dignified choice. But it’s an unusual set of values and actions.
On LW I see people using the term in both the general way and the specific way. So I think you are both right.