[extropy-chat] Examining Risks (was RE: META: List Quality)

[Eliezer S. Yudkowsky]

Hal Finney wrote:
> 
> My problem with this direction of questioning is as follows.  What
> difference does my opinion make?  Why should I care about whether Dubai
> runs some port?  Last time I checked, George Bush wasn't on the phone
> asking for my help.  The nation is not collectively holding its breath
> to find out what Hal Finney thinks about the matter.  So why should I
> bother to become informed about this issue, or any of the other grand
> political questions which our civilization must address?  Events will
> take their course independent of my views.

Hear, hear.  It's not like I consider myself as having no influence on 
the world, but I understand that I do not possess certain kinds of 
short-term influence.

-- 
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky                          http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence