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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?
“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?