Oh, no, I think you misunderstand what parts of the question-problem I was talking about. To better characterize the bogus example, let’s flesh it out a bit:
Q: Which is healthier? ( ) Bleggs ( ) Rubes ( ) Both ( ) Neither
Now obviously, the first four chains of reasoning go as follow:
In most specific cases, presented an arbitrary thought-experiment-style choice of being handed a blegg or a rube, neither is good. Owning either a Blegg or a Rube will make you less physically healthy. So among the four options, “Neither” is clearly better. This is pretty certain, though some crack scientists do claim conclusive evidence that owning both at the same time can be healthy. But I don’t put much faith in their suspicious results.
“But!”, screams the more logically-minded, “the question isn’t about which of the four choices presented is better—it’s clear that the fourth option is intended to mean ‘neither bleggs nor rubes are healthier’, not that you should pick neither. So the thought experiment implied means you have to pick one of the two, and in that case Bleggs are clearly marginally better!” Okay, fine. So Bleggs are most likely healthier if you have to choose one of the two—they’re unlikely to be equally unhealthy or healthy, after all.
But let’s take a step back for a moment. If you look at the grand scheme of things, at a macro scale, Rubes do reduce the total amount of Bleggs and Rubes, because each Rube will destroy at least five Bleggs. So in the grand scheme of things, having Rubes is healthier than having Bleggs, if we can’t attack the source! Clearly, both of the previous chains of reasoning are too narrow-minded and don’t think of the big picture. On a large scale, the Rubes are indeed healthier-per-unit than the Bleggs. Probably.
Ah, but what if it is implied that this is an all-or-nothing paradigm, and what if others interpret it this way? Then, obviously, the complete absence of both Bleggs and Rubes would be a Very Bad Thing™, since we require Bleggs and Rubes to produce Tormogluts, a necessary component of modern human prosperity! Thus, both are (probably) healthier than only having one or the other (and obviously better than neither).
...
On the other hand, Bleggs and Rubes are unnatural, unsustainable in the long term, and we will soon need to research new ways to produce Tormogluts. Most people who see you advocating for them will automatically match you as The Enemy, so you should pick “Neither”, even though that’s not what the question implies. But this is a shitty situation, and if someone reading my answer to this question interprets it this way, I don’t care to befriend them anyway. So I reject this answer.
And let’s not even think of what the Kurgle fanatics have to say about this question. The horror.
Assuming all of the above went through your mind in a few seconds very rapidly when you first read the question… what answer do you choose? Do you also put a preference filter for other people’s answers? Just choosing the higher or most confident probability from the above isn’t going to cut it if this question matters to you a lot.
I used to pick the “least bad” answer in such cases, but then I decided to clear all my previous answers, and now when I see a question to which the answer I wish I could give is “Mu” or “ADBOC” or “Taboo $word” or “Avada Ked--[oh right, new censorship policy, sorry]”, I just skip it.
“Avada Ked--[oh right, new censorship policy, sorry]”
looks baffled
Avada Kedavra is a spell trigger for a death spell. In the context implies the urge to a respond to a stupid, misleading or perhaps disingenuous question with the application of power, violence or killing rather than compliance with the form of the question. Since it isn’t specific or in reference to any actual people this doesn’t technically violate the new censorship policy but it is still close enough that I laughed at Army’s joke!
it isn’t specific or in reference to any actual people
I’d guess that “people who write match questions on OkCupid” is specific enough that actually advocating violence against them would be against the spirit of the policy. (I can’t imagine someone actually doing that, or imagine someone imagining someone doing that, but I’ve lost count of the times I’ve underestimated the validity of Poe’s Law.)
Oh, no, I think you misunderstand what parts of the question-problem I was talking about. To better characterize the bogus example, let’s flesh it out a bit:
Q: Which is healthier?
( ) Bleggs
( ) Rubes
( ) Both
( ) Neither
Now obviously, the first four chains of reasoning go as follow:
In most specific cases, presented an arbitrary thought-experiment-style choice of being handed a blegg or a rube, neither is good. Owning either a Blegg or a Rube will make you less physically healthy. So among the four options, “Neither” is clearly better. This is pretty certain, though some crack scientists do claim conclusive evidence that owning both at the same time can be healthy. But I don’t put much faith in their suspicious results.
“But!”, screams the more logically-minded, “the question isn’t about which of the four choices presented is better—it’s clear that the fourth option is intended to mean ‘neither bleggs nor rubes are healthier’, not that you should pick neither. So the thought experiment implied means you have to pick one of the two, and in that case Bleggs are clearly marginally better!” Okay, fine. So Bleggs are most likely healthier if you have to choose one of the two—they’re unlikely to be equally unhealthy or healthy, after all.
But let’s take a step back for a moment. If you look at the grand scheme of things, at a macro scale, Rubes do reduce the total amount of Bleggs and Rubes, because each Rube will destroy at least five Bleggs. So in the grand scheme of things, having Rubes is healthier than having Bleggs, if we can’t attack the source! Clearly, both of the previous chains of reasoning are too narrow-minded and don’t think of the big picture. On a large scale, the Rubes are indeed healthier-per-unit than the Bleggs. Probably.
Ah, but what if it is implied that this is an all-or-nothing paradigm, and what if others interpret it this way? Then, obviously, the complete absence of both Bleggs and Rubes would be a Very Bad Thing™, since we require Bleggs and Rubes to produce Tormogluts, a necessary component of modern human prosperity! Thus, both are (probably) healthier than only having one or the other (and obviously better than neither).
...
On the other hand, Bleggs and Rubes are unnatural, unsustainable in the long term, and we will soon need to research new ways to produce Tormogluts. Most people who see you advocating for them will automatically match you as The Enemy, so you should pick “Neither”, even though that’s not what the question implies. But this is a shitty situation, and if someone reading my answer to this question interprets it this way, I don’t care to befriend them anyway. So I reject this answer.
And let’s not even think of what the Kurgle fanatics have to say about this question. The horror.
Assuming all of the above went through your mind in a few seconds very rapidly when you first read the question… what answer do you choose? Do you also put a preference filter for other people’s answers? Just choosing the higher or most confident probability from the above isn’t going to cut it if this question matters to you a lot.
I used to pick the “least bad” answer in such cases, but then I decided to clear all my previous answers, and now when I see a question to which the answer I wish I could give is “Mu” or “ADBOC” or “Taboo $word” or “Avada Ked--[oh right, new censorship policy, sorry]”, I just skip it.
Good idea, although it’s still useful to be able to choose in case you need to fill in all the questions.
looks baffled
Avada Kedavra is a spell trigger for a death spell. In the context implies the urge to a respond to a stupid, misleading or perhaps disingenuous question with the application of power, violence or killing rather than compliance with the form of the question. Since it isn’t specific or in reference to any actual people this doesn’t technically violate the new censorship policy but it is still close enough that I laughed at Army’s joke!
I’d guess that “people who write match questions on OkCupid” is specific enough that actually advocating violence against them would be against the spirit of the policy. (I can’t imagine someone actually doing that, or imagine someone imagining someone doing that, but I’ve lost count of the times I’ve underestimated the validity of Poe’s Law.)
Ah, right. That is pretty funny, actually.