When robustly tolerable beats precariously optimal (Amanda Askell's Blog)

Amanda Askell · 1 Jul 2020

Amanda Askell did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Being robustly tolerable matters most when the expected costs of failure are high.
Mental modelMargin of safety

Their wordsBeing robustly tolerable is not a particularly valuable trait when the expected costs of failure are low, but it's an extremely valuable trait when the expected costs of failure are high.
Our reading
The property of being robustly tolerable can be undervalued.
Mental modelMargin of safety

Their wordsI think we can undervalue the property of being robustly tolerable.
Our reading
A political system that allows a benevolent dictatorship also puts you at much greater risk of a malevolent one.
Mental modelMargin of safety

Their wordsA benevolent dictatorship may seem surprisingly alluring in bad times, but any political system that enables a benevolent dictatorship also puts you at much greater risk of a malevolent one.

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.