Add lithium to drinking water

Beowulf said:
Hmmm. I know what causes earthquakes, but the thing is, I will have to totally destroy Seattle and all its people in order to prove it. Seattle has a population of 2.5 million, and in the grand scheme of things, isn't that a small price to pay in order to prevent future earthquakes? After all, 2.5 million is one half of one percent of the population in the USA. Acceptable. Totally acceptable. Isn't it? ;)
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Only if you're an evil genius. :D
 
Beowulf said:
Hmmm. I know what causes earthquakes, but the thing is, I will have to totally destroy Seattle and all its people in order to prove it. Seattle has a population of 2.5 million, and in the grand scheme of things, isn't that a small price to pay in order to prevent future earthquakes? After all, 2.5 million is one half of one percent of the population in the USA. Acceptable. Totally acceptable. Isn't it? ;)
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And they are damn hippies so they count less! :lol:
 
Beowulf said:
Hmmm. I know what causes earthquakes, but the thing is, I will have to totally destroy Seattle and all its people in order to prove it. Seattle has a population of 2.5 million, and in the grand scheme of things, isn't that a small price to pay in order to prevent future earthquakes? After all, 2.5 million is one half of one percent of the population in the USA. Acceptable. Totally acceptable. Isn't it? ;)
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:lol:
 
netrox said:
Of course, we've saved more lives thanks to anti-smoking efforts.

Smokers may argue that smoking saves them from having dementia thanks to nicotine but nicotine has deadly effect on heart (most smokers die of heart disease, lung cancer isn't the main cause of death among smokers).

But I take offense at alcohol!!!
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Maybe true but the smarter smoking companies changed the direction of the anytismoking campaign from "Smoking is not healthy" which was getting people of ALL ages to quit smoking and derailed it.

Not it is a "Don't let children smoke" with increased and costly laws against children -- Which only makes more war on young people and causes teenagers to want to smoke more and now we have an even larger crop of younger smokers.
 
netrox said:
If it would save us tax money and lives, hardly a waste. :hmm:
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Hasn't been proven, ignores a wide range of costs (not merely the cost of adding it, but also any potential side effects), etc.

netrox said:
Hence we need to repeat the studies!
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Feel free to do so. Real cities that real people live in, however, are not valid test subjects.

netrox said:
The thing is that we should look at the whole scale of economics and mortality.

In terms of mortality, if you add a substance to the public that may save 100,000 more lives a year yet may cause 1,000 premature deaths attributed to that substance, it's worth adding it.

For me, I will NOT consider what 1,000 will have to say because those 1,000 people obviously do not care about how 100,000 lives were saved. And you shouldn't.
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Hm. So, are you a utilitarian? Mind explaining how you define your utility function, and whether you've verified that your utility function cannot be dutch booked?

Depending on your answer, I'd be highly curious to hear your answer to a similar but unrelated moral dilemma I heard a couple months ago.
 
The utilitarian philosophy is great and easy to do --

Until you put their own child on the tracks --

Then it breaks down, just like the rest of us.
 
Berry said:
The utilitarian philosophy is great and easy to do --

Until you put their own child on the tracks --

Then it breaks down, just like the rest of us.
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Depends on what your utility function is defined as and how strongly a commitment you've made to not making decisions based on emotions.
 
Berry said:
I am unabashedly and unashamedly tribal.
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Hah, I don't believe that. You're far too conscientious of others to be truly tribal. :P

I prefer to think global, I want all of humanity to flourish, and I've seen far too many negative effects of tribal thinking to think it sustainable at a species-wide level. (Note - cherry picking some aspects of tribal thinking, such as "generosity to my tribe will increase my social standing" and pointing out that it is good doesn't mean that tribal thinking as a whole is better than more global thinking, and if it can work at a species-wide level, there's likely a correlation that goes beyond tribal or super-tribal thinking.)
 
StSapphire said:
Hah, I don't believe that. You're far too conscientious of others to be truly tribal. :P

I prefer to think global, I want all of humanity to flourish, and I've seen far too many negative effects of tribal thinking to think it sustainable at a species-wide level. (Note - cherry picking some aspects of tribal thinking, such as "generosity to my tribe will increase my social standing" and pointing out that it is good doesn't mean that tribal thinking as a whole is better than more global thinking, and if it can work at a species-wide level, there's likely a correlation that goes beyond tribal or super-tribal thinking.)
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I'd prefer that the Chinese not flourish.
 
StSapphire said:
Hah, I don't believe that. You're far too conscientious of others to be truly tribal. :P

I prefer to think global, I want all of humanity to flourish, and I've seen far too many negative effects of tribal thinking to think it sustainable at a species-wide level. (Note - cherry picking some aspects of tribal thinking, such as "generosity to my tribe will increase my social standing" and pointing out that it is good doesn't mean that tribal thinking as a whole is better than more global thinking, and if it can work at a species-wide level, there's likely a correlation that goes beyond tribal or super-tribal thinking.)
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Tribal does not automatically preclude being empathetic and aware.
 
Going tribal? Never heard of that term. However, some people have beseeched me not to go native, and I scratched my head at that. I thought natives were empathic and fun loving! :lol:
 
Beowulf said:
Going tribal? Never heard of that term. However, some people have beseeched me not to go native, and I scratched my head at that. I thought natives were empathic and fun loving! :lol:
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They are. And entertaining to watch when they run!:P
 
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