tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11168555.post7185159560217782886..comments2024-03-13T08:55:36.838-04:00Comments on The Multiverse According to Ben: Why Bother to Vote?: A Novel Multiversal AnswerBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743597120529571571noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11168555.post-85416074512080319262010-01-10T08:58:08.914-05:002010-01-10T08:58:08.914-05:00you can take it several steps further.
and simply...you can take it several steps further.<br /><br />and simply define what you'd like to happen,<br />and then experience it manifest.<br /><br />it's magic,<br />it works.<br /><br />but like anything,<br />best with practice.<br /><br />and remember karmic-balancing,<br />best to cast,<br />that those involved,<br />be happy and love the experience.<br /><br />joy for all,<br />and karmic balance,<br />joy for you.<br /><br />:-)lowki shomuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08319013444067855236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11168555.post-57685088909350760772009-11-30T09:41:46.835-05:002009-11-30T09:41:46.835-05:00very interesting. Also consider that voters might ...very interesting. Also consider that voters might obtain some benefit from the act of voting itself, and not just from the outcome.<br /><br />For example, voters might experience a kind of 'warm glow' derived from participating in the greater good (if democracy is considered a good). Additionally, being able to say 'I voted' in important elections (e.g. 2009 US elections) must confer at least some utility...tanyanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11168555.post-37456984023025739982009-09-22T04:20:14.828-04:002009-09-22T04:20:14.828-04:00Voting is a "tragedy of the commons" pro...Voting is a "tragedy of the commons" problem. People gain tangibly by not voting, but the behaviour destroys the value of a shared resource - democractic decision making. Ben's solution - if it worked - would "fix" all such problems.<br /><br />In practice, you don't have to infer what other people did from your own actions. There are more reliable sources of information on the topic than that - in particular, you can look at the outcome and the turnout.Tim Tylerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06623536372084468307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11168555.post-29823662051669106832009-09-11T06:09:43.577-04:002009-09-11T06:09:43.577-04:00Very nice post. Isn't the logic behind voting ...Very nice post. Isn't the logic behind voting related to things like game theory, chaos theory and emergent systems? I actually had this very same discussion with a friend yesterday where I was arguing that one should care about fixing the world and my friend was saying that it made absolutely no difference. My automatic response to such a claim is always the 'if no one cared we would be in deep shit' argument which most people I've met, including my friend, reject. I think another way to look at it is to accept that we all shape the reality we experience through our actions and it is therefore our responsibility to do what we think is right, no matter how small the effect is. According to this view it would be totally hypocritical to complain about the state of affairs while knowing that one hasn't done anything to improve things. Perhaps if game theory were taught at schools in combination with ethics, there would be fewer apathetic people throwing away all their 'votes' at shaping the universe. But then again, I'm a determinist/fatalist in the sense that I see whatever happens as inevitable since it actually does happen and this includes the existence of ignorance, which to me is the ultimate variable for measuring the state of reality at any one point in meta-spacetime. What gives hope however, is that at least the universe we exist in seems to be moving towards lower levels of ignorance.Alexxarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02186164382010046443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11168555.post-70645178752385228152009-09-08T18:04:52.247-04:002009-09-08T18:04:52.247-04:00Terren,
I agree with your corollary!
If I ever g...Terren,<br /><br />I agree with your corollary!<br /><br />If I ever get around to writing this up more formally, I'll include your corollary and give you credit for it ;-)<br /><br />benBen Goertzelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01289041122724284772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11168555.post-50099403639700218032009-09-08T18:03:17.671-04:002009-09-08T18:03:17.671-04:00Very clever!
There is another consequence of th...Very clever! <br /><br />There is another consequence of this line of thought - especially when we chuck the assumption that the vote which people similar to me would cast is the one that actually increases my utility. That is: people who are ignorant of the issues/people they're voting for should abstain from voting (ignoring the problem that most ignorant people would not admit to their ignorance). <br /><br />After all, if I am ignorant and I vote, that means that people similar to me are more likely to vote, and we should probably expect that when ignorant people vote en masse our expected collective utility goes down.terrenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17168710738796240680noreply@blogger.com