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> a conclusion we could arrive at by an application of relevant metrics. That’s dangerous ground because of how you can arbitrarily change weights of different
by Retric 2mo ago
> a conclusion we could arrive at by an application of relevant metrics.
That’s dangerous ground because of how you can arbitrarily change weights of different metrics. If the goal is the “overall benefit of humanity” then that’s what’s important not metrics.
- infinite_spin 2mo agoHow do you propose assessing "overall benefit of humanity" without metrics?
- Retric 2mo agoQualitative assessment etc not just metrics. How do you propose to asses “overall benefit to humanity” with metrics?
- infinite_spin 2mo agoNumber of successful outcomes reported (e.g. with disabled students, cancer patients). Labor costs. Latency of services. Scientific discoveries found. Etc. I'm not trying to discount the qualitative approach, but I think it's not impossibly hard to find metrics we can associate with "overall benefit to humanity" from a quantitative viewpoint.
- SiempreViernes 2mo ago> I think it's not impossibly hard to find metrics we can associate with "overall benefit to humanity" from a quantitative viewpoint. One would hope for the slightly higher ambition of metrics that are causally connected to "overall benefit of humanity", settling for merely correlated has that unpleasant risk of the association breaking as you try to optimise.
- ang_cire 2mo agoQualitative metrics are also metrics. You have to have a spectrum in order to weigh things against each other qualitatively, even if the spectrum is just a 2-point binary.
- Retric 2mo agoQualitative assessment and qualitative metrics are different things.
- ang_cire 2mo agoQualitative assessment is the overall process of using qualitative metrics to evaluate something.
- infinite_spin 2mo agoI feel like both viewpoints are valid ways of determining what you personally view as "good", and I don't want to take away from that diversity of opinion
- Retric 2mo agoThe important distinction is it covers a wider range of analysis than qualitative metrics alone. This matters due to the difference between a hypothetical perfect analysis covering every possibility and one than can actually take place in the real world.