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Please don't use "rational" to mean "agrees with the axioms I've chosen to be important." These people are acting rationally, but reason doesn't govern what you

Please don't use "rational" to mean "agrees with the axioms I've chosen to be important." These people are acting rationally, but reason doesn't govern what you value in your starting assumptions, only the conclusions you draw from those assumptions. Signalling is the rational outcome of the core values encouraged in our politicians.

shreyshnaccount 5y ago
feel like more people need to understand this. being rational looks different for different people in different circumstances and with different motivations.
acidburnNSA 5y ago
> These people are acting rationally There is lots of uncertainty and perspectives around that. What if someone in the next 14 years comes up with a way to make gasoline from clean, low-carbon energy? These kind of technology specific laws really bug me. What they should rationally legislate is lifecycle emissions. If the vehicle system (or energy system) makes more than x gCO₂-eq/mile then it's banned. How you get there shouldn't be specified 15 years in advance.
- philipov 5y ago
  Rational behavior from a politician means doing whatever it takes to get yourself reelected. First, foremost, full stop. People who don't do this don't get elected and are removed from the system. Whether their legislation is effective or not matters only as far as it will affect their chances of reelection.
  - acidburnNSA 5y ago
    Ah sure so you're commenting on the concept of elected leaders in general as a means of government as opposed to the higher-level actions people as a whole take to solve problems. Ok fair enough.
    - philipov 5y ago
      Not elected leaders in general, just elected leaders in our specific ecosystem of incentives for those leaders. For them to be acting irrationally, it would be necessary to show that genuinely solving problems is what they're trying to do, but people who put that above the negotiations and compromises necessary to be reelected do not survive or get promoted to higher offices. If we want to change the outcomes, we need to change what it takes for someone to be elected. And that will not happen as long as people believe that anyone who disagrees with them or behaves suboptimally just isn't thinking rationally.

shreyshnaccount 5y ago

feel like more people need to understand this. being rational looks different for different people in different circumstances and with different motivations.

acidburnNSA 5y ago

> These people are acting rationally There is lots of uncertainty and perspectives around that. What if someone in the next 14 years comes up with a way to make gasoline from clean, low-carbon energy? These kind of technology specific laws really bug me. What they should rationally legislate is lifecycle emissions. If the vehicle system (or energy system) makes more than x gCO₂-eq/mile then it's banned. How you get there shouldn't be specified 15 years in advance.

philipov 5y ago
Rational behavior from a politician means doing whatever it takes to get yourself reelected. First, foremost, full stop. People who don't do this don't get elected and are removed from the system. Whether their legislation is effective or not matters only as far as it will affect their chances of reelection.
- acidburnNSA 5y ago
  Ah sure so you're commenting on the concept of elected leaders in general as a means of government as opposed to the higher-level actions people as a whole take to solve problems. Ok fair enough.
  - philipov 5y ago
    Not elected leaders in general, just elected leaders in our specific ecosystem of incentives for those leaders. For them to be acting irrationally, it would be necessary to show that genuinely solving problems is what they're trying to do, but people who put that above the negotiations and compromises necessary to be reelected do not survive or get promoted to higher offices. If we want to change the outcomes, we need to change what it takes for someone to be elected. And that will not happen as long as people believe that anyone who disagrees with them or behaves suboptimally just isn't thinking rationally.