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On 2016-07-09 17:25, William Flynn Wallace wrote:<br>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans
ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">A good
article. However, it does not explain the apparent paradox of
labeling a problem 'important' and then saying it does not
deserve to be solved. </div>
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No, I am arguing that important problems may still be deferred to
later. Fixing the sun's expansion into a red giant is important, but
it would be stupid to reallocate resources used for pandemic
readiness today into solving it. <br>
<br>
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<div dir="ltr">Once I woke up in a car, after overindulging in
beer, and found that we were going very fast down a lonely
road. So I asked and he said that he was lost, and that his
theory was to go as fast as he can so that he will find out
sooner if he is going the wrong way. Fits right in to your
article. I did solve the problem by looking out the windows,
seeing the Big Dipper in the back window, and telling the driver
that we were going South - which was wrong.</div>
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<br>
Figuring out where one should be going before spending effort going
forward is rational. In a car it might not be too costly to drive a
few miles wrong and maybe time is precious, but given the nonzero
danger of driving fast in unknown areas at night your friend
probably made a bad cost/benefit calculation. <br>
<br>
The more costly mistakes or wasted effort (typically because of
opportunity costs) are, the more effort it is rational to put into
planning where one should go. <br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University</pre>
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