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Comment by logicallee | Hacker News Reader

I'm sorry, I completely missed that you were relating it to the agency's problem.

I thought you were just giving any paradox as an example of a difficult problem, and could have given any.

I don't quite follow the analogy with this agency's policies, could you make it a bit more clear? What are the "boxes" in this case?

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Not at all. It's correct that this problem is formally recognized as a false paradox. It is a thought experiment infamous for its illustrative misuse in relation to other areas. "What are the 'boxes' in this case?" - The unfortunate choice of fiat is one such area, and it is correct for practical purposes to discard the subject right here because answers will modify the service, or fail a test. So fail a test, it's not a problem. Ignore the unstated false equivalences between test criteria and aim to break the criterion that matters least. Different situations call for different choices, but standard consensus is to admit to 2-boxing. Different hybrid strategies are improved by personal values. By 1-boxing I don't value my time, I value the information. While I'm coming up to speed I might get a chance to use it. That could take a while though, I have a decent memory but I'm not a fast proofreader.

Interesting take on this whole scheme of things, thanks for taking the time. I'd add that we're qualifying the question before accepting payment i.e. if its out of scope, we politely decline.

On a side note, aren't we already doing the same when we go to white collar practitioners like doctors and lawyers for advice? I mean you pay the service irrespective of whether we like the advice or not. With FortyQ, we're giving you a way out of that with refunds.

Glad to hear that. The Freemium solution is certainly a simple one, but I didn't feel it was appropos. Personally I'd have to start writing a day ahead to have a chance at formalizing my question before the time limit. Expert advice does benefit from codified standards but it's hopefully dissimilar in that the question I brought features a double bind; It doesn't have a 'winning' answer. There are tons of regular answers, so an expert would just tell you not to fall for it. Education against them is one of the few ways I acknowledge of their constructive use, and I'd guess logicallee still won't be satisfied with my breakdown. I do what I can.

I see your point regarding a double bind, and it is something we see a lot in blogs I guess with conflicting viewpoints? Its true that there is a significant effort involved in formulating the question properly, but it also ensures getting a chiseled answer. Something we noted as well with paid questions: the amount of detail provided improves dramatically.

One thing that I have noticed working legal questions in the past weeks is that people more lost than they were when given all possible viewpoints and given the possibility to choose. More often than not they are looking for someone to tell them what to do. Makes sense though if you think about it.

Not sure I entirely got the 'Education against them.. ' point, could you elaborate?

Against the use of double binds. To me they are an indicator of hostile intent, although as demonstrated here and in the practice of law, adversarial interactions can be constructive. This abstraction is incredibly beautiful, but typical examples are not necessarily nice.

Do double binds automatically come in though, when you allow people of disparate backgrounds and experiences a platform to express opinion?

Could be constructive though as far as law is concerned.

What typical examples would you refer to?

They could, though I think much of that can be mitigated with effort. I believe the textbook example is domestic abuse, but I worry that the scope also coincides with fallout from poisoned well attacks and tribalistic recruitment efforts.

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