4 ms·

I disagree with the logic behind this piece and I believe it's conflating expected value with utility. Basically, if given a 0.1% chance of earning 50 billion

I disagree with the logic behind this piece and I believe it's conflating expected value with utility. Basically, if given a 0.1% chance of earning 50 billion dollars or a 50% chance of earning 3 million dollars, one could convincingly argue that the most rational choice is the latter because the marginal utility of money diminishes rapidly. However, if given the choice between a 0.1% chance of saving 50 million lives vs a 50% chance of saving 30,000 lives, one could argue that the former is better since the marginal utility of saving lives is much more linear.

drucken 15y ago
Except that's not his general point. It is not about economics or balance of probabilities. Economics is just another barrier to overcome for a startup.
dlf 15y ago
That would be the case if there were any for profit startups that were actually saving lives, but most startups that are relevant to this forum are making life, at best, marginally better for the privileged class, which can conveniently be delineated by the fact that they have access to technology in the first place.