Mr. Odialdabaoth, I hear you are an Effective Altruist utilitarian who, with one exception, attempts to maximizes the welfare of society.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: I am, and I do.
I also hear you hate ialdabaoth.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Yes. Fuck that guy.
Mr. Odialdabaoth, you may be pleased to hear that ialdabaoth is suffering from depression.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: You warm my twisted little heart.
You may also be pleased to hear that he’s reluctant to seek medical assistance using public programs because of the cost of those programs to society.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Well, damn. It pains me to say it, but ialdabaoth should take as much mental health assistance as he can.
Oh?
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Yes. Ialdabaoth is, I must admit, a talented and intelligent person. He is currently employed at a level well under his potential. If he escaped his current doom-loop, the social value of his added productivity could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Ah yes, I see.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Absolutely. Now, of course, successfully treating ialdabaoth would have some regrettable side effects, such as ialdabaoth being happy. However, the benefit to society would outweigh the loss of his suffering.
Part of ialdabaoth’s brain feels that by using public resources to get mental health assistance, he will be a leech on society.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Tell him to multiply the value he might add to society if he escaped his doom-loop (>$50,000 per year if he becomes a programmer) by his career length (>20 years) by a pessimistic estimate of the chance of an intervention working (>1/10), and then tell that part of his brain to shut the fuck up.
Thank you Mr. Odialdabaoth.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Glad to help. Oh, and if you see ialdabaoth, could you be a good sport and slap him in the face for me?
Heh. Do you know I used almost that exact argument once, with one of the social workers? Although the figure I used was $80,000/year, because that’s what I used to make—and I added something about “I’ve already paid in AT LEAST grabs calculator ($80,000 x 2 x 0.35) + ($65,000 x 1.5 x 0.35) + ($50,000 x 2.5 x 0.35) + ($45,000 x 1.5 x 0.33) + ($40,000 x 1.5 x 0.30) + ($35,000 x 2 x 0.30) + ($27,000 x 2.5 x 0.28) + ($25,000 x 1.5 x 0.25) = $223,000 and some change in taxes over the past fifteen years. Are you seriously going to tell me that none of that was for social programs that I’m entitled to see benefit from?”
I was subsequently referred to security and escorted out for taking a belligerent tone.
I’d like you to meet Mr. Odialdabaoth.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Hello.
Mr. Odialdabaoth, I hear you are an Effective Altruist utilitarian who, with one exception, attempts to maximizes the welfare of society.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: I am, and I do.
I also hear you hate ialdabaoth.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Yes. Fuck that guy.
Mr. Odialdabaoth, you may be pleased to hear that ialdabaoth is suffering from depression.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: You warm my twisted little heart.
You may also be pleased to hear that he’s reluctant to seek medical assistance using public programs because of the cost of those programs to society.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Well, damn. It pains me to say it, but ialdabaoth should take as much mental health assistance as he can.
Oh?
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Yes. Ialdabaoth is, I must admit, a talented and intelligent person. He is currently employed at a level well under his potential. If he escaped his current doom-loop, the social value of his added productivity could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Ah yes, I see.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Absolutely. Now, of course, successfully treating ialdabaoth would have some regrettable side effects, such as ialdabaoth being happy. However, the benefit to society would outweigh the loss of his suffering.
Part of ialdabaoth’s brain feels that by using public resources to get mental health assistance, he will be a leech on society.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Tell him to multiply the value he might add to society if he escaped his doom-loop (>$50,000 per year if he becomes a programmer) by his career length (>20 years) by a pessimistic estimate of the chance of an intervention working (>1/10), and then tell that part of his brain to shut the fuck up.
Thank you Mr. Odialdabaoth.
Mr. Odialdabaoth: Glad to help. Oh, and if you see ialdabaoth, could you be a good sport and slap him in the face for me?
Sorry, no.
Heh. Do you know I used almost that exact argument once, with one of the social workers? Although the figure I used was $80,000/year, because that’s what I used to make—and I added something about “I’ve already paid in AT LEAST grabs calculator ($80,000 x 2 x 0.35) + ($65,000 x 1.5 x 0.35) + ($50,000 x 2.5 x 0.35) + ($45,000 x 1.5 x 0.33) + ($40,000 x 1.5 x 0.30) + ($35,000 x 2 x 0.30) + ($27,000 x 2.5 x 0.28) + ($25,000 x 1.5 x 0.25) = $223,000 and some change in taxes over the past fifteen years. Are you seriously going to tell me that none of that was for social programs that I’m entitled to see benefit from?”
I was subsequently referred to security and escorted out for taking a belligerent tone.
I don’t think that’s how tax brackets work.