Hey fun! (maybe more than fun when it impacts reality, as when people talk about “taste” in meaningful research, esp. WRT alignment research...”
I believe the answer is all of the above. Taste has similarities to all of the things you mention at the top.
The proof won’t fit in the margin. This is one of those things I’d love to write about, but won’t find time for until after the singularity.
This is something I’ve thought about an awful lot, while studying the neuroscience of dopamine and decision-making. I think those mechanisms are central to taste.
Steve Byrnes’ Valence sequence doesn’t mention dopamine, but it captures my theory of how the dopamine system “spreads around” estimated value between associated concepts.
That’s taste. It can be formed by all sorts of positive associations, including accurate estimates of creativity, craftmanship, etc, and associations to respected people or ideas.
Based on this theory, I have limited patience for people who think or claim that their taste is the objectively better. It is often better on the dimensions they mention, but worse on some other dimensions they haven’t thought about.
Hey fun! (maybe more than fun when it impacts reality, as when people talk about “taste” in meaningful research, esp. WRT alignment research...”
I believe the answer is all of the above. Taste has similarities to all of the things you mention at the top.
The proof won’t fit in the margin. This is one of those things I’d love to write about, but won’t find time for until after the singularity.
This is something I’ve thought about an awful lot, while studying the neuroscience of dopamine and decision-making. I think those mechanisms are central to taste.
Steve Byrnes’ Valence sequence doesn’t mention dopamine, but it captures my theory of how the dopamine system “spreads around” estimated value between associated concepts.
That’s taste. It can be formed by all sorts of positive associations, including accurate estimates of creativity, craftmanship, etc, and associations to respected people or ideas.
Based on this theory, I have limited patience for people who think or claim that their taste is the objectively better. It is often better on the dimensions they mention, but worse on some other dimensions they haven’t thought about.