3 ms·

The distinction is that the quality of life improvement can be done now, and can make peoples' lives better immediately. It's not just wheelchair users that can

The distinction is that the quality of life improvement can be done now, and can make peoples' lives better immediately. It's not just wheelchair users that can make use of accessible infrastructure, the elderly, and young children can more readily make use of it too. I don't discount the promise or effect of such research, but the utilitarian in me says that this can make a tangible improvement now, and to more people and not at an indeterminate point in the future.

londons_explore 5y ago
There are plenty of such tradeoffs... For example, the government could start a helicopter service to help people cross a river today, or they could build a bridge across the river, which will help far more people, but won't be ready for 5 years. I assume governments have models to make decisions about utility now vs utility later, and the way that trades off with cost now vs cost later. I don't see why this decision shouldn't just use those models and spend the money on whatever the models say makes sense.
- afarrell 5y ago
  > I assume governments have models to make decisions about utility now vs utility later, and the way that trades off with cost now vs cost later. I'm curious where this assumption comes from. It seems more likely that it would be made on intuition of what story will seem most defensible to voters or avoid the angry scrutiny of a legislator. If decisions were made with the high level of rationality you point to, it seems unlikely that the US would have problems like this: - https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2022/02/07/pittsburgh-warning-signs-fern-hollow-bridge-collapse/ https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2022/02/07/pittsburgh-warnin... - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/it-is-a-challenge-the-irs-wants-more-staff-to-cut-its-backlog-but-25k-salaries-arent-going-to-draw-job-seekers-watchdog-says-11644362209 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/it-is-a-challenge-the-irs-... - https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-announces-transition-away-from-use-of-third-party-verification-involving-facial-recognition https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-announces-transition-away-f... ---------------- Looking at your username lets consider a question such as "Should we pay additional money to design London's new Elizabeth Line with step-free access at all stations?" for such a model to answer such questions, we would need a way to accurately count costs. If could do that, then the line would already be open.

londons_explore 5y ago

There are plenty of such tradeoffs... For example, the government could start a helicopter service to help people cross a river today, or they could build a bridge across the river, which will help far more people, but won't be ready for 5 years. I assume governments have models to make decisions about utility now vs utility later, and the way that trades off with cost now vs cost later. I don't see why this decision shouldn't just use those models and spend the money on whatever the models say makes sense.

afarrell 5y ago
> I assume governments have models to make decisions about utility now vs utility later, and the way that trades off with cost now vs cost later. I'm curious where this assumption comes from. It seems more likely that it would be made on intuition of what story will seem most defensible to voters or avoid the angry scrutiny of a legislator. If decisions were made with the high level of rationality you point to, it seems unlikely that the US would have problems like this: - https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2022/02/07/pittsburgh-warning-signs-fern-hollow-bridge-collapse/ https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2022/02/07/pittsburgh-warnin... - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/it-is-a-challenge-the-irs-wants-more-staff-to-cut-its-backlog-but-25k-salaries-arent-going-to-draw-job-seekers-watchdog-says-11644362209 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/it-is-a-challenge-the-irs-... - https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-announces-transition-away-from-use-of-third-party-verification-involving-facial-recognition https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-announces-transition-away-f... ---------------- Looking at your username lets consider a question such as "Should we pay additional money to design London's new Elizabeth Line with step-free access at all stations?" for such a model to answer such questions, we would need a way to accurately count costs. If could do that, then the line would already be open.