Yoav Ravid

Karma: 3,599

I’m writing a book about Liberalism. I call it Mechanisms of Liberty: The Shortcomings of Modern Liberalism and How to Fix It.

My main interest is in economic and governance mechanisms, my secondary interest is education, and I’m also interested in other core LW subjects, like rationality, epistemology, ethics, evolution, and cryptography.

I’m 24yo. I live in Israel. My hobbies include singing, playing guitar and drums, Krav Maga, Dancing (WCS), indoor boulder climbing, Juggling and hiking.

The best essay I wrote is Building Blocks of Politics: An Overview of Selectorate Theory (but my book will be better 😉).

I’m also on Twitter :)

Yoav Ravid Sep 22, 2024, 6:05 PM
2 points
0
in reply to: Nathan Helm-Burger’s comment on: Yoav Ravid’s Shortform
Yeah, I think I agree with this. Do you have an idea for a name that captures this dynamic? Do you think one of the names I or Legionnaire suggested captures it?

Yoav Ravid Sep 18, 2024, 10:12 AM
6 points
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in reply to: Dagon’s comment on: Yoav Ravid’s Shortform
Hmm.. I think our understanding what “Moloch” stands for is quite different, cause none of what you suggested seems close to me. Which I guess also illustrates why I wanted a different name. “Moloch” is very good at entering your head and creating a visceral feeling of the dynamic, but it can also make it ambiguous and difficult to understand. Also, I find when I introduce people to the concept, it really throws them off if I start to talking about some mythical deity from the Bible :)

Yoav Ravid Sep 18, 2024, 10:06 AM
2 points
0
in reply to: Legionnaire’s comment on: Yoav Ravid’s Shortform
Ouuu nice! there’s some good ones here. I think my favourite from these is “Sacrificial Spiral”. “Sacrificial Contest” is also good. Deadlock is also a good term, though not as part of “Competition Deadlock”. Perhaps “Mutual Sacrifice Deadlock”, or something of the sort. “Feedback” can also be a good term.
Thanks!

Yoav Ravid Sep 17, 2024, 4:12 PM
7 points
1
on: Yoav Ravid’s Shortform
I tried to think of different names for the Moloch Dynamic^[1] and came up with
- Mutual Sacrifice Trap
- Mutual Sacrifice Equilibrium
- Mutual Sacrifice Equilibrium Trap
- Sacrifice Race
- Sacrifice Competition
“Collective” can also replace or be added before “Mutual”, to signify that it tends to refer to dynamics of many actors, where coordinating to get out of the equilibrium trap is difficult.
What do you think of these options?
1. ^
  A reminder of what the Moloch Dynamic is:
  “In some competition optimizing for X, the opportunity arises to throw some other value under the bus for improved X. Those who take it prosper. Those who don’t take it die out. Eventually, everyone’s relative status is about the same as before, but everyone’s absolute status is worse than before. The process continues until all other values that can be traded off have been – in other words, until human ingenuity cannot possibly figure out a way to make things any worse.”—Scott Alexander, Meditations on Moloch

Yoav Ravid Sep 16, 2024, 6:45 AM
6 points
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in reply to: ryan_b’s comment on: Universal Basic Income and Poverty
From Protection or Free Trade by Henry George:
The Robber that Takes All that is Left
Labor may be likened to a man who as he carries home his earnings is waylaid by a series of robbers. One demands this much, and another that much, but last of all stands one who demands all that is left, save just enough to enable the victim to maintain life and come forth next day to work. So long as this last robber remains, what will it benefit such a man to drive off any or all of the other robbers?
Such is the situation of labor today throughout the civilized world. And the robber that takes all that is left, is private property in land. Improvement, no matter how great, and reform, no matter how beneficial in itself, cannot help that class who deprived of all right to the use of the material elements have only the power to labor—a power as useless in itself as a sail without wind, a pump without water, or a saddle without a horse.
I recommend the full chapter, and book.

Yoav Ravid Sep 15, 2024, 7:42 AM
4 points
2
on: Forever Leaders
One extreme solution, which I think is good regardless of this issue, is using sortition with high alternance, like they did in ancient Athens. I recommend Terry Bouricius’ book on sortition.

Yoav Ravid Sep 15, 2024, 7:37 AM
8 points
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in reply to: Noosphere89’s comment on: Forever Leaders
The difference between leaders in dictatorships and in democracies isn’t so much in the average time they rule, but in the variability in the time they rule. Yes, not ageing wouldn’t help someone like Bachir Gemayel who was assassinated after two weeks in office, but it would probably have helped a leader like Stalin. So I care more about the variability of how much no-ageing would help dictators than the average. But still, I agree ageing isn’t the main bottleneck on dictatorship.

Yoav Ravid Sep 11, 2024, 10:35 AM
2 points
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in reply to: Ben Pace’s comment on: Ben Pace’s Shortform Feed
The comment option sorting is amazing! Thanks!
The new reacts are also cool, though I also liked the “I checked” reacts and would have liked to have both.

Yoav Ravid Sep 4, 2024, 8:23 AM
4 points
7
in reply to: habryka’s comment on: Habryka’s Shortform Feed
I am really missing the word counter. It’s something I look at quite a lot (less so on reading time estimates, as I got used to making the estimate myself based on the wordcount).

Yoav Ravid Sep 4, 2024, 8:19 AM
11 points
2
on: On the UBI Paper
Why is no one talking about the GiveDirectly study on UBI? It seems to also be a very good study, and it found positive results.

Yoav Ravid Aug 24, 2024, 1:54 PM
2 points
0
in reply to: tailcalled’s comment on: Yoav Ravid’s Shortform
I’d be happy to try :)
Sending you a DM

Yoav Ravid Aug 23, 2024, 5:24 PM
4 points
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on: Open Thread Summer 2024
Crossposting here: I’m still looking for a dialogue partner

Yoav Ravid Aug 21, 2024, 5:46 PM
4 points
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on: Yoav Ravid’s Shortform
I’m looking for a dialogue partner with whom to discuss my normative philosophy of political/social change which I call Experimentalism or Experimentationism.
It is an attempt to give a name and structure to a position I believe many people already implicitly and intuitively tend towards, and to go beyond Progressivism and Conservatism, or to “synthesise” them, if you want, though I don’t particularly like the term.
I found it a bit hard to flesh out an explanation on my own, so I hope doing so in a dialogue would be helpful. This doesn’t require any significant familiarity with the subject, just an ability to ask good questions and to challenge me to better flesh out my idea.
If anyone is interested please comment here or send me a DM :)
What links here?
- Yoav Ravid's comment on Open Thread Summer 2024 by habryka (Aug 23, 2024, 5:24 PM; 4 points)

Yoav Ravid Aug 15, 2024, 1:56 AM
2 points
0
in reply to: Ben Pace’s comment on: Open Thread Summer 2024
I didn’t go to college/university, but i’m also from Israel, not the US, so it’s a little different here. If it still feels relevant then i’d be willing to join.

Yoav Ravid Aug 14, 2024, 5:19 PM
3 points
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on: Open Thread Summer 2024
Are there multiwinner voting methods where voters vote on combinations of candidates?

Yoav Ravid Aug 10, 2024, 5:33 AM
4 points
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in reply to: Ben Millwood’s comment on: Leaving MIRI, Seeking Funding
from their FAQ
How much does it cost? Unlike pretty much everyone else, we don’t take a cut from your donations! Premium features like Memberships, Ko-fi Shop and Commissions can either be paid for via a small subscription to Ko-fi Gold or a low 5% transaction fee. You decide.
How do I get paid? Instantly and directly into your PayPal or Stripe account. We take 0-5% fees from donations and we don’t hold onto your money. It goes directly from your supporter to you. Simple!
Their fees do seem lower than other services, but I think other services can pay directly to your bank account, so you don’t have to pay PayPal or Stripe fees.

Yoav Ravid Aug 5, 2024, 9:14 PM
7 points
2
on: Circular Reasoning
I haven’t clicked this fast on a LessWrong post in a long while. I’ve been waiting for someone to seriously tackle this issue ever since I read the sequences six years ago. So thanks! Now I’m going to take some time to think about it :)

Yoav Ravid Aug 4, 2024, 6:56 AM
4 points
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in reply to: Nathan Helm-Burger’s comment on: tlevin’s Shortform
Wow, I had no idea about the effects of alcohol on hearing! It makes so much sense—I never drink and I hate how loud the music is in parties!

Yoav Ravid Aug 4, 2024, 6:52 AM
2 points
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in reply to: Bart Bussmann’s comment on: tlevin’s Shortform
Yeah, when there’s loud music it’s much easier for me to understand people I know than people I don’t because I’m already used to their speaking patterns, and can more easily infer what they said even when I don’t hear it perfectly. And also because any misunderstanding or difficulty that rises out of not hearing each other well is less awkward with someone I already know than someone I do.

Yoav Ravid Aug 3, 2024, 6:52 AM
4 points
0
on: Yoav Ravid’s Shortform
Collaborative Truth Seeking = Deliberation
Sometimes our community has a different name for something than others do, so it’s useful to know which name others use so we can learn from them.
Today I learned, that deliberative democracy researchers call Deliberation what we call Collaborative Truth Seeking:
“Deliberation requires rational reasoning, or “thinking slow,” in Kahneman’s terminology. It is distinct from oratory, rhetoric, negotiation, persuasion, and common forms of debate, which frequently use pathos and emotion. (...) According to deliberative democracy theorists, deliberative conversation is a cooperative venture seeking truth or the common good, rather than seeking to “win,” or defeat an opponent.”
‘Good Deliberation’ section From Terry Bouricius’ book about sortition democracy
They seem to have studied this a lot, and there’s probably a lot we can learn from them to improve our Group Rationality skills. One day I might dive into their literature and write a post about it, but for now I’m just sharing this so others can do so as well.