The plans for the Death Ray are already out there. The two possible discussions are, first, whether it’s ethical to kill someone with a Death Ray.
The second discussion asks whether the effectiveness of the Death Ray (compared to just punching someone) can be attributed to the placebo effect. Or maybe the Death Ray only works on the sort of people that evil villains want to kill, but when it comes time to protagonists, our opponents are mostly invulnerable to Death Rays. It’s also possible that the Death Ray doesn’t really work better than chance, but it gives villains the confidence to step up and shoot someone who’s about to have a heart attack, anyway. Then again, maybe a lot of people prefer to be shot with Death Rays and it’s hypocritical to say that the tried-and-true method of punching someone to death is better just because it doesn’t involve any mechanical devices...
The plans for the Death Ray are already out there.
I’m allowing for the possibility that PUA does little harm in its current inchoate, unscientific form but that with analysis and refinement it could do more harm. Establishing how well PUA beliefs map to reality could at least potentially identify a subset of PUA beliefs which did map to reality, and distinguish them from those that don’t.
If PUA as it currently exists in the wild, schisms and subgroups and all, is the most effective possible form of PUA then and only then is the invention already in the wild.
The plans for the Death Ray are already out there. The two possible discussions are, first, whether it’s ethical to kill someone with a Death Ray.
The second discussion asks whether the effectiveness of the Death Ray (compared to just punching someone) can be attributed to the placebo effect. Or maybe the Death Ray only works on the sort of people that evil villains want to kill, but when it comes time to protagonists, our opponents are mostly invulnerable to Death Rays. It’s also possible that the Death Ray doesn’t really work better than chance, but it gives villains the confidence to step up and shoot someone who’s about to have a heart attack, anyway. Then again, maybe a lot of people prefer to be shot with Death Rays and it’s hypocritical to say that the tried-and-true method of punching someone to death is better just because it doesn’t involve any mechanical devices...
I’m allowing for the possibility that PUA does little harm in its current inchoate, unscientific form but that with analysis and refinement it could do more harm. Establishing how well PUA beliefs map to reality could at least potentially identify a subset of PUA beliefs which did map to reality, and distinguish them from those that don’t.
If PUA as it currently exists in the wild, schisms and subgroups and all, is the most effective possible form of PUA then and only then is the invention already in the wild.
We’re not the only rationalists in the world.