Yoav Ravid

Karma: 3,587

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 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
0
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
0
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
0
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
0
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
0
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
0
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
0
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
0
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.

Yoav Ravid Jul 27, 2024, 3:43 PM
8 points
5
in reply to: ryan_b’s comment on: Universal Basic Income and Poverty
I think George does see the dividend as necessary for solving poverty, but only in addition to taxing rent. On its own it would indeed be gobbled up by landlords.
Also, what George suggests is a bit different from UBI (and I think Universal Land Dividend is a better name for it than Citizen’s Dividend). With UBI, the law dictates a set amount to be given each person each year/month. With the Citizen’s Dividend, whatever revenue isn’t spent at the end of the year is distributed equally between everyone. This on the one hand leads to a variable income, on the other hand it doesn’t place an obligation on the government that it might not be able to fulfil. Personally I think it’s a better and more elegant policy.

Yoav Ravid Jul 14, 2024, 7:03 AM
4 points
−6
on: Yoav Ravid’s Shortform
“One can do logic without empiricism, but one must never do empiricism without logic.”—Nassim Nicholas Taleb
I think this neatly explains why, though we cherish Empiricism, we call ourselves Rationalists.
Reason must come before observation, for without reason observation cannot be processed and made sense of.

Yoav Ravid Jun 12, 2024, 3:50 AM
6 points
3
on: Yoav Ravid’s Shortform
I love how user tooltip now shows a three of their posts (and generally all the new features. You’re doing a great Job, LW team!).
Currently the tooltip shows the 3 most recent posts. It would be nice if it was possible to pin posts on the user page, and then if you did it would prioritise the pinned posts on the tooltip before new posts.
@habryka

Yoav Ravid Jun 2, 2024, 8:02 AM
4 points
0
in reply to: bohaska’s comment on: dreeves’s Shortform
On the other hand, Obsidian doesn’t have an option to convert Markdown to rich text, if you want to copy-paste the other way around (say from obsidian to gdocs). Would be nice if it did.

Yoav Ravid 2 May 2024 8:35 UTC
4 points
0
on: Yoav Ravid’s Shortform
Looking for blog platform/framework recommendations
I had a Wordpress blog, but I don’t like wordpress and I want to move away from it.
Substack doesn’t seem like a good option because I want high customizability and multilingual support (my Blog is going to be in English and Hebrew).
I would like something that I can use for free with my own domain (so not Wix).
The closest thing I found to what I’m looking for was MkDocs Material, but it’s still geared too much towards documentation, and I don’t like its blog functionality enough.
Other requirements: Dark/Light mode, RSS, Newsletter support.
Does anyone have another suggestion? It’s fine if it requires a bit of technical skill (though better if it doesn’t).