I generally agree that a creature with inconsistent preferences should respect the values of its predecessors and successors in the same kind of way that it respects the values of other agents (and that the similarity somewhat increases the strength of that argument). It’s a subtle issue, especially when we are considering possible future versions of ourselves with different preferences (just as its always subtle how much to respect the preferences of future creatures who may not exist based on our actions). I lean towards being generous about the kinds of value drift that have occurred over the previous millennia (based on some kind of “we could have been in their place” reasoning) while remaining cautious about sufficiently novel kinds of changes in values.
In the particular case of the inconsistencies highlighted by transparent Newcomb, I think that it’s unusually clear that you want to avoid your values changing—because your current values are a reasonable compromise amongst the different possible future versions of yourself, and maintaining those values is a way to implement important win-win trades across those versions.
I generally agree that a creature with inconsistent preferences should respect the values of its predecessors and successors in the same kind of way that it respects the values of other agents (and that the similarity somewhat increases the strength of that argument). It’s a subtle issue, especially when we are considering possible future versions of ourselves with different preferences (just as its always subtle how much to respect the preferences of future creatures who may not exist based on our actions). I lean towards being generous about the kinds of value drift that have occurred over the previous millennia (based on some kind of “we could have been in their place” reasoning) while remaining cautious about sufficiently novel kinds of changes in values.
In the particular case of the inconsistencies highlighted by transparent Newcomb, I think that it’s unusually clear that you want to avoid your values changing—because your current values are a reasonable compromise amongst the different possible future versions of yourself, and maintaining those values is a way to implement important win-win trades across those versions.
Agreed!