we should write off the phrase ‘we could just agree’ as a particularly seductive appeal to magic.”
One could analogize it to “We could just extract the potential energy from the plentiful hydrogen atoms by combining them into helium atoms. What’s so complicated about that?”
The problem of designing a creature that never develops cancer is also analogous, at multiple levels, to that of designing an organization where everyone has an incentive to do their jobs well and it’s robust to a handful of mal-intentioned individuals.
One could analogize it to “We could just extract the potential energy from the plentiful hydrogen atoms by combining them into helium atoms. What’s so complicated about that?”
The problem of designing a creature that never develops cancer is also analogous, at multiple levels, to that of designing an organization where everyone has an incentive to do their jobs well and it’s robust to a handful of mal-intentioned individuals.