Prediction markets (gambling) really immoral or unethical.

[ALAYMAN]

The ethics of betting on bad news.


“And at the risk of making an obvious point, accurate forecasts are useful because people plan their lives around expectations about what the future holds. For instance, if you live in an area where a hurricane will hit or a war will start, that’s important information for you to know. It could quite literally be lifesaving.”

That’s just one of the arguments put forward in advocacy for the recent plague of betting on any and everything under the sun. After reading this article I was taken back in my mind to my formative college years when I took a Philosophy and Ethics course. The professor argued against the death penalty (which I was temporarily persuaded to adopt) on the basis that it really wasn’t a deterrent (his teaching came via his own book he had written on the subject… no bias there eh?, lol). The explosion of prediction markets, given their predatory nature, is a sad commentary on the decline of public ethics and morals. The lukewarm water is starting to boil the unsuspecting frog.

Anyone here agree with the logic of this West Virginia University professor regarding a positive outlook on Prediction Markets?

 

[subllibrm]

For the prediction market to be helpful, it needs to be useful for me in deciding when and how high to stack the sandbags.

 

[ALAYMAN]

For the prediction market to be helpful, it needs to be useful for me in deciding when and how high to stack the sandbags.

Are you speaking of actual water/flooding? Or tongue in cheek about some Armageddon? In our area we’ve had several recent rounds of devastating flash floods. Ironically, the author/article linked in the OP makes the argument that the economic implications for prediction markets and becoming a meteorologist is on the same ethical footing.

 

[Bruh]

Are you speaking of actual water/flooding? Or tongue in cheek about some Armageddon? In our area we’ve had several recent rounds of devastating flash floods. Ironically, the author/article linked in the OP makes the argument that the economic implications for prediction markets and becoming a meteorologist is on the same ethical footing.

If the meteorologist says, I’m putting down $1,000 that my prediction is correct then it would be the same.