These are good points, though as a counter-point to your original post, torture vs. specks is one of the things that comes up on Google when you search for Eliezer’s name, so we may be stuck with it.
Going with the thought anyway… aside from getting people to not spend a million dollars to save one life (i.e. making sure their million dollars saves at least a few hundred lives), where are other good problem areas to focus on for the sake of practical improvements in people’s ability to shut up and multiply? “Yes, it really is OK to accept an increased risk of terrorist attack for the sake of making air travel more convenient”?
Actually, given how crazy the US went after 9/11, I’m not sure that’s the best example. A little inconvenience in our air travel is a reasonable price to pay for avoiding another Iraq war. This doesn’t totally ruin the example, because there’s some level of inconvenience we would not accept in order to avoid another Iraq, but that level is high enough to not make the example work so well.
These are good points, though as a counter-point to your original post, torture vs. specks is one of the things that comes up on Google when you search for Eliezer’s name, so we may be stuck with it.
Going with the thought anyway… aside from getting people to not spend a million dollars to save one life (i.e. making sure their million dollars saves at least a few hundred lives), where are other good problem areas to focus on for the sake of practical improvements in people’s ability to shut up and multiply? “Yes, it really is OK to accept an increased risk of terrorist attack for the sake of making air travel more convenient”?
Actually, given how crazy the US went after 9/11, I’m not sure that’s the best example. A little inconvenience in our air travel is a reasonable price to pay for avoiding another Iraq war. This doesn’t totally ruin the example, because there’s some level of inconvenience we would not accept in order to avoid another Iraq, but that level is high enough to not make the example work so well.
Hmmm… better examples?