So it’s a little hard to say, because most of the historical evidence we have of them has them is situations where they’re the only stable property rights, and so likely they were over-utilized. It also seems inflexible in important ways, and so I’m more of a fan of the modern American system of trusts.
But the central premise—that rather than willing your property to people, you could will it to a purpose—seems pretty great, once you’ve incorporated the lesson of lost purposes, and so can write a will that will fail gracefully with time.
I think prioritizing wishes of the dead over the those of the living is egregiously wrong.
And, like all such things, context matters so much—the root question (for all of this post’s topic) is “compared to what?”. It’s possible this was more effective than available alternatives (state or bandit seizure of the property), and possible that it happened at a scale where it was fairly efficient use of the property for a long-ish period of time.
Uh, does this also involve 2-boxing in Transparent Newcomb’s Problem?
I honestly don’t know—a huge amount depends on context and whether my brain can actually deal with the implication of perfect prediction. Omega technology doesn’t exist and may or may not be possible.
In other words, yes. If Omega predicted today-me, I don’t think I’d get to actually test it—there would only be $1k on one box and the other would be empty. A different me in an imaginary universe where Omega was possible and well-known enough for me to not fight the hypothetical, might be able to believe the setup, and therefore one-box.
Does your jump to this topic imply that you believe human ancestors have Omega-like prediction powers and I should apply reverse-causality to their wishes?
So it’s a little hard to say, because most of the historical evidence we have of them has them is situations where they’re the only stable property rights, and so likely they were over-utilized. It also seems inflexible in important ways, and so I’m more of a fan of the modern American system of trusts.
But the central premise—that rather than willing your property to people, you could will it to a purpose—seems pretty great, once you’ve incorporated the lesson of lost purposes, and so can write a will that will fail gracefully with time.
I think prioritizing wishes of the dead over the those of the living is egregiously wrong.
And, like all such things, context matters so much—the root question (for all of this post’s topic) is “compared to what?”. It’s possible this was more effective than available alternatives (state or bandit seizure of the property), and possible that it happened at a scale where it was fairly efficient use of the property for a long-ish period of time.
The narrowing circle in action!
Absolutely. Abandon all hope for a better past! I un-apologetically prioritize the future half of my light-cone.
Uh, does this also involve 2-boxing in Transparent Newcomb’s Problem?
I honestly don’t know—a huge amount depends on context and whether my brain can actually deal with the implication of perfect prediction. Omega technology doesn’t exist and may or may not be possible.
In other words, yes. If Omega predicted today-me, I don’t think I’d get to actually test it—there would only be $1k on one box and the other would be empty. A different me in an imaginary universe where Omega was possible and well-known enough for me to not fight the hypothetical, might be able to believe the setup, and therefore one-box.
Does your jump to this topic imply that you believe human ancestors have Omega-like prediction powers and I should apply reverse-causality to their wishes?