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Proposal For A Study In Value Comparisons

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This is a placeholder, but I’d really like to see large-scale answers to all pairs of situations like the following, where the only question asked is “would you rather have … or … ?”.

I think that publicy policy discussions tend to assume that we already agree on the underlying preferences that this would expose (or, alternately, that the other person is always and obviously wrong on these things), and that these values never get discussed. So this is intended to sort of be a public policy equivalent of the game of rationalist’s taboo.

Examples:

Sex with your perfect partner.

The best meal you can imagine.

Children who love you when they’re grown up.

Children who care for you when you’re old.

Children who obey you.

Safety.

Freedom to go wherever you want, but no guarantee of safety.