The “biologically imposed minimal wage” is definitely going into my arsenal of verbal tools. This is one of the clearest illustration of the same position that has been argued since the dawn of LW.
this is not what a minimum wage is—that’s called a cost
you may well be right on the merits, but you’re not being careful with economic ideas in ways large and small, and that’s bad when you’re trying to figure out something important
If you offer a salary below 100 watts equivalent, humans won’t accept, because accepting it would mean dying of starvation. (Unless the humans have another source of wealth, in which case this whole discussion is moot.) This is not literally a minimum wage, in the conventional sense of a legally-mandated wage floor; but it has the same effect as a minimum wage, and thus we can expect it to have the same consequences as a minimum wage.
This is obviously (from my perspective) the point that Grant Slatton was trying to make. I don’t know whether Ben Golub misunderstood that point, or was just being annoyingly pedantic. Probably the former—otherwise he could have just spelled out the details himself, instead of complaining, I figure.
The “biologically imposed minimal wage” is definitely going into my arsenal of verbal tools. This is one of the clearest illustration of the same position that has been argued since the dawn of LW.
In that case I should clarify that it wasn’t my idea, I got it from someone else on Twitter (maybe Yudkowsky? I forget.)
It was Grant Slatton but Yudkowsky retweeted it
Admittedly, it’s not actually minimum wage, but a cost instead:
https://x.com/ben_golub/status/1888655365329576343
If you offer a salary below 100 watts equivalent, humans won’t accept, because accepting it would mean dying of starvation. (Unless the humans have another source of wealth, in which case this whole discussion is moot.) This is not literally a minimum wage, in the conventional sense of a legally-mandated wage floor; but it has the same effect as a minimum wage, and thus we can expect it to have the same consequences as a minimum wage.
This is obviously (from my perspective) the point that Grant Slatton was trying to make. I don’t know whether Ben Golub misunderstood that point, or was just being annoyingly pedantic. Probably the former—otherwise he could have just spelled out the details himself, instead of complaining, I figure.
Fair enough, I’m just trying to bring up the response here.