Telling someone who’s been harmed by a missing stair, “Well, the harm done to you is outweighed by all the benefit the rest of us have accrued, so you’re just going to accept being treated like crap so the rest of us can continue receiving this benefit” might sound reasonable from a utilitarian perspective, but from the perspective of the person who actually has to deal with it, it doesn’t sound so reasonable. If the people in charge of Less Wrong want to run it like the Catholic Church, handing out indulgences to those who make sufficient contributions, I suppose that’s their choice, but they might want to consider how that worked out for the Catholic Church.
“He’s one of leading figures, so no one should complain about anything he does” doesn’t sound at all like something a cult would say.
Ignore what you perceive to be unfair
Here’s a radical idea: how about we don’t shrug our shoulders and say “That’s the way it is”? How about instead we try to improve the world?
Not everyone can be Yvain-like insightful, productive and virtuous, all at the same time.
Yes, but people can refrain from being outright assholes, and other people can call them out when they do act like assholes.
So, gwern is a missing stair? http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2012/06/missing-stair.html
Telling someone who’s been harmed by a missing stair, “Well, the harm done to you is outweighed by all the benefit the rest of us have accrued, so you’re just going to accept being treated like crap so the rest of us can continue receiving this benefit” might sound reasonable from a utilitarian perspective, but from the perspective of the person who actually has to deal with it, it doesn’t sound so reasonable. If the people in charge of Less Wrong want to run it like the Catholic Church, handing out indulgences to those who make sufficient contributions, I suppose that’s their choice, but they might want to consider how that worked out for the Catholic Church.
“He’s one of leading figures, so no one should complain about anything he does” doesn’t sound at all like something a cult would say.
Here’s a radical idea: how about we don’t shrug our shoulders and say “That’s the way it is”? How about instead we try to improve the world?
Yes, but people can refrain from being outright assholes, and other people can call them out when they do act like assholes.