It does, but mostly for the same reasons that cryonics does. It’s a violation of Common Sense and Sensibility. But given the beliefs that tocomment has (emphasis: not mine!) it is the wise decision for him to make. He has just bitten the bullet and actually followed through from his stated beliefs with (token verbal support of) the rational conclusion.
I think tocomment has his predictions about the future miscallibrated and has probably not accounted for his own cognitive failure modes but I suspect that people would judge him to be ‘unwise’ almost completely independently of whether or not they share his premised beliefs.
Basically, I think we (that is, humans) are likely to judge him as naive and foolish because he is actually acting as though his beliefs should relate to his pragmatic choices.
By way of some illustration:
A mainstream ‘retirement plan’ is probably making the same ‘putting all your eggs in one basket’ mistake that tocomment makes. It is by no means certain that the structures and circumstances that make conventionally wise retirement plans will remain in place. There are perhaps other more fundamental actions that should be taken to ensure future safety and wellbeing than investing in superannuation. “Creating a stash of gold somewhere” may be a little trite but “develop the kind of social and political connections and develop the skills and resources that will allow you to survive into your later years even in the face of social upheaval” is something that makes sense and has applied across all cultures and times. Yet we aren’t likely to look down our noses at people who don’t divert significant resources away from their 401k and into that sort of future insurance.
“Retirement Plans” essentially amount to saving up lots of money for use while you go through the process of physical and mental decline and then death. A plausible and sane person may actually have values such that a conventional retirement plan is a strictly irrational allocation of resources. That person is probably still going to be labelled foolish, unwise or naive despite the fact that he is acting entirely in his own best interests. ie. At worst he is weird, not stupid but will usually be lumped with the latter judgement.
You know, that actually sums up my concerns regarding saving.
I think that: Within the next 30 years, a singularity and major economic upheaval are each much more likely than any kind of “business as usual” situation for which IRAs were intended. I also think that money (at least USD) will be of much less value to me when I’m 60.
And yet I contribute anyway, and only have about 8% of current USD value of my savings invested in a way appropriate for one of those scenarios.
Now, I’ve gotten a bit better: I stopped maxing out the 401k (i.e. putting 25% of pre-tax earnings in it), and I’m keeping a car loan I could pay off. But if I were really serious about this, I should empty most of the account, and put it in something else, even though this will incur a big penalty.
I’m just noting that while it makes sense in context I don’t usually expect to see “Now, I’ve gotten a bit better … I’m keeping a car loan I could pay off.” The irony appeals.
(I is going to get started on setting up the Less Wrong store with User:Kevin starting in a week or two, after which we’ll be able to sell awesome LW-related shirts like this.)
Not sure yet… I think the largest functionality will be selling rationality-related books and the like, pre-vetted by rationalists, with reviews, and all in one place. I’m not sure if we can get bulk pricing, and there’s not much incentive to buy books from the LW store if you can get the same from Amazon. What I wanted to do was set up a checkout system where you can choose your price beyond a certain minimum, where proceeds will go to your choice of one of a few rationality-related charities listed (potential candidates being FHI, SIAI, Richard Dawkins Foundation, et cetera).
At some point I’m going to dig through my old files and find my original proposal, then modify it and post it in the discussion section here at LW. I’ll ask for proposals and request ideas/critiques. That’ll probably be in a week to three from now.
Not sure yet… I think the largest functionality will be selling rationality-related books and the like, pre-vetted by rationalists, with reviews, and all in one place. I’m not sure if we can get bulk pricing, and there’s not much incentive to buy books from the LW store if you can get the same from Amazon.
Did you consider just using Amazon Affiliates? If I recall one of the options would just allow you to set up a completely independent website, send the orders through them and take a cut. Charging more is also possible. Obviously you don’t get anywhere near as much money as if you did it all yourself but you would need to be passing a LOT of inventory to make that hassle worthwhile. And if you do end up making large numbers of sales then you can transition to handling the orders yourself if it happens to be worth it.
Huh, Affiliates seems to have changed since I checked it out a few months ago, or maybe I misunderstood it back then. Thanks for the tip.
From memory there are actually a variety of different options. Ranging from ‘link to us and get a cut if your readers convert to sales’ through ‘they will not even know Amazon is involved’ and even the option of actually owning your own stock and using Amazon to handle storing and distribution. (None of this is as cheap as making some business connections and private arrangements. But it’s a heck of a lot easier!)
What I wanted to do was set up a checkout system where you can choose your price beyond a certain minimum
I have no actual information on how well that will work (it seems like it would), but that phrase triggered a memory for me of an xkcdsucks post:
Radiohead style would be letting people pay however much they want, including nothing. (...) No one cares that you could pay more than a usual price for the album, that’s not news. (What! Radiohead will be glad to take money you want to give them! Well stop the presses, mother fuckers!)
I’ll try to ignore that bias and evaluate the store neutrally when it’s up. This post may be noise.
No one cares that you could pay more than a usual price for the album, that’s not news.
That may well not be true. I doubt that there’s an easy route to send small amounts of money to most bands (unlike charities). Here is a tech-savvy author turning away tips from readers, out of fear that they’re pirating his books. And he does have free books that might elicit a tip.
Interesting. I just found Cory Doctorow expressing a similar view here:
Every time I put a book online for free, I get emails from readers who want to send me donations for the book. I appreciate their generous spirit, but I’m not interested in cash donations, because my publishers are really important to me. They contriebute immeasurably to the book, improving it, introducing it to an audience I could never reach, helping me do more with my work. I have no desire to cut them out of the loop.
In his case, he’s apparently set up a system for readers to buy copies and have them donated to libraries.
Not sure yet… I think the largest functionality will be selling rationality-related books and the like, pre-vetted by rationalists, with reviews, and all in one place. I’m not sure if we can get bulk pricing, and there’s not much incentive to buy books from the LW store if you can get the same from Amazon. What I wanted to do was set up a checkout system where you can choose your price beyond a certain minimum, where proceeds will go to your choice of one of a few rationality-related charities listed (potential candidates being FHI, SIAI, Richard Dawkins Foundation, et cetera).
At some point I’m going to dig through my old files and find my original proposal, then modify it and post it in the discussion section here at LW. I’ll ask for proposals and request ideas/critiques. That’ll probably be in a week to three from now.
-- tocomment, in a Hacker News post
This sounds like a bad idea.
It does, but mostly for the same reasons that cryonics does. It’s a violation of Common Sense and Sensibility. But given the beliefs that tocomment has (emphasis: not mine!) it is the wise decision for him to make. He has just bitten the bullet and actually followed through from his stated beliefs with (token verbal support of) the rational conclusion.
I think tocomment has his predictions about the future miscallibrated and has probably not accounted for his own cognitive failure modes but I suspect that people would judge him to be ‘unwise’ almost completely independently of whether or not they share his premised beliefs.
Basically, I think we (that is, humans) are likely to judge him as naive and foolish because he is actually acting as though his beliefs should relate to his pragmatic choices.
By way of some illustration:
A mainstream ‘retirement plan’ is probably making the same ‘putting all your eggs in one basket’ mistake that tocomment makes. It is by no means certain that the structures and circumstances that make conventionally wise retirement plans will remain in place. There are perhaps other more fundamental actions that should be taken to ensure future safety and wellbeing than investing in superannuation. “Creating a stash of gold somewhere” may be a little trite but “develop the kind of social and political connections and develop the skills and resources that will allow you to survive into your later years even in the face of social upheaval” is something that makes sense and has applied across all cultures and times. Yet we aren’t likely to look down our noses at people who don’t divert significant resources away from their 401k and into that sort of future insurance.
“Retirement Plans” essentially amount to saving up lots of money for use while you go through the process of physical and mental decline and then death. A plausible and sane person may actually have values such that a conventional retirement plan is a strictly irrational allocation of resources. That person is probably still going to be labelled foolish, unwise or naive despite the fact that he is acting entirely in his own best interests. ie. At worst he is weird, not stupid but will usually be lumped with the latter judgement.
You know, that actually sums up my concerns regarding saving.
I think that: Within the next 30 years, a singularity and major economic upheaval are each much more likely than any kind of “business as usual” situation for which IRAs were intended. I also think that money (at least USD) will be of much less value to me when I’m 60.
And yet I contribute anyway, and only have about 8% of current USD value of my savings invested in a way appropriate for one of those scenarios.
Now, I’ve gotten a bit better: I stopped maxing out the 401k (i.e. putting 25% of pre-tax earnings in it), and I’m keeping a car loan I could pay off. But if I were really serious about this, I should empty most of the account, and put it in something else, even though this will incur a big penalty.
Wow. I was the one that initiated this line of reasoning and even so I took a double take at seeing that
Elaborate.
I’m just noting that while it makes sense in context I don’t usually expect to see “Now, I’ve gotten a bit better … I’m keeping a car loan I could pay off.” The irony appeals.
LOL good point. 99.999% of personal finance discussions, it’s supposed to work out the opposite.
What would the something else be?
Brilliant. And if they did make it into a tshirt (as per reply) I’d quite possibly buy one!
Appropriate, since it’s about as wise as the average T-shirt slogan.
On the other hand some t-shirts are a source of true wisdom! ;)
(I is going to get started on setting up the Less Wrong store with User:Kevin starting in a week or two, after which we’ll be able to sell awesome LW-related shirts like this.)
Good, I was afraid I was the only one who’d started calling him “User:Kevin” after seeing Clippy do it.
By the way, I will definitely design an “Escape your closing parenthesis.” t-shirt.
Must repost:
Where will proceeds go?
Not sure yet… I think the largest functionality will be selling rationality-related books and the like, pre-vetted by rationalists, with reviews, and all in one place. I’m not sure if we can get bulk pricing, and there’s not much incentive to buy books from the LW store if you can get the same from Amazon. What I wanted to do was set up a checkout system where you can choose your price beyond a certain minimum, where proceeds will go to your choice of one of a few rationality-related charities listed (potential candidates being FHI, SIAI, Richard Dawkins Foundation, et cetera).
At some point I’m going to dig through my old files and find my original proposal, then modify it and post it in the discussion section here at LW. I’ll ask for proposals and request ideas/critiques. That’ll probably be in a week to three from now.
Did you consider just using Amazon Affiliates? If I recall one of the options would just allow you to set up a completely independent website, send the orders through them and take a cut. Charging more is also possible. Obviously you don’t get anywhere near as much money as if you did it all yourself but you would need to be passing a LOT of inventory to make that hassle worthwhile. And if you do end up making large numbers of sales then you can transition to handling the orders yourself if it happens to be worth it.
Huh, Affiliates seems to have changed since I checked it out a few months ago, or maybe I misunderstood it back then. Thanks for the tip.
From memory there are actually a variety of different options. Ranging from ‘link to us and get a cut if your readers convert to sales’ through ‘they will not even know Amazon is involved’ and even the option of actually owning your own stock and using Amazon to handle storing and distribution. (None of this is as cheap as making some business connections and private arrangements. But it’s a heck of a lot easier!)
I have no actual information on how well that will work (it seems like it would), but that phrase triggered a memory for me of an xkcdsucks post:
I’ll try to ignore that bias and evaluate the store neutrally when it’s up. This post may be noise.
This is a bit tangential to your point...
That may well not be true. I doubt that there’s an easy route to send small amounts of money to most bands (unlike charities). Here is a tech-savvy author turning away tips from readers, out of fear that they’re pirating his books. And he does have free books that might elicit a tip.
Interesting. I just found Cory Doctorow expressing a similar view here:
In his case, he’s apparently set up a system for readers to buy copies and have them donated to libraries.
Not sure yet… I think the largest functionality will be selling rationality-related books and the like, pre-vetted by rationalists, with reviews, and all in one place. I’m not sure if we can get bulk pricing, and there’s not much incentive to buy books from the LW store if you can get the same from Amazon. What I wanted to do was set up a checkout system where you can choose your price beyond a certain minimum, where proceeds will go to your choice of one of a few rationality-related charities listed (potential candidates being FHI, SIAI, Richard Dawkins Foundation, et cetera).
At some point I’m going to dig through my old files and find my original proposal, then modify it and post it in the discussion section here at LW. I’ll ask for proposals and request ideas/critiques. That’ll probably be in a week to three from now.