Yes, you aren’t the first person to make this observation. However, This isn’t a problem with Bayesianism so much as with utilitarianism giving counter-intuitive results when large numbers are involved. See for example Torture v. dust specks or Pascal’s Mugging. See especially Nyarlathotep’s Deal which is very close to the situation you are talking about and shows that the problem seem to more reside in utilitarianism than Bayesianism. It may very well be that human preferences are just inconsistent. But this issue has very little to do with Bayesianism.
This isn’t a problem with Bayesianism so much as with utilitarianism giving counter-intuitive results when large numbers are involved.
Counter-intuitive!? Thats a little more than just counter-intuitive. Immagine the CEV uses this function. Doctor Evil approaches it and says that an infinite number of humans will be sacrificed if it doesn’t let him rule the world. And there are a lot more realistic problems like that to. I think the problem comes from the fact that net utility of all possible worlds and actual utility are not the same thing. I don’t know how to do it better, but you might want to think twice before you use this to make trade offs.
Ah. It seemed like you hadn’t because rather than use the example there you used a very similar case. I don’t know a universal solution either. But it should be clear that the problem exists for non-Bayesians so the dilemma isn’t a problem with Bayesianism.
Yes, you aren’t the first person to make this observation. However, This isn’t a problem with Bayesianism so much as with utilitarianism giving counter-intuitive results when large numbers are involved. See for example Torture v. dust specks or Pascal’s Mugging. See especially Nyarlathotep’s Deal which is very close to the situation you are talking about and shows that the problem seem to more reside in utilitarianism than Bayesianism. It may very well be that human preferences are just inconsistent. But this issue has very little to do with Bayesianism.
Counter-intuitive!? Thats a little more than just counter-intuitive. Immagine the CEV uses this function. Doctor Evil approaches it and says that an infinite number of humans will be sacrificed if it doesn’t let him rule the world. And there are a lot more realistic problems like that to. I think the problem comes from the fact that net utility of all possible worlds and actual utility are not the same thing. I don’t know how to do it better, but you might want to think twice before you use this to make trade offs.
It would help if you read the links people give you. The situation you’ve named is essentially that in Pascal’s Mugging.
Actually I did. Thats where I got it (after you linked it). And after reading all of that, I still can’t find a universal solution to this problem.
Ah. It seemed like you hadn’t because rather than use the example there you used a very similar case. I don’t know a universal solution either. But it should be clear that the problem exists for non-Bayesians so the dilemma isn’t a problem with Bayesianism.