Remember, Thingspace doesn’t morph to one’s utility function—it is a representation of things in reality, outside one’s head.
But… your head is part of reality, is it not?
Could you not theoretically devise an experiment that showed a correlation between the presence of black hair / green eyes and biochemical changes in your brain and hormonal systems?
This particular cluster in Thingspace—female features which Ben Jones, specifically, finds attractive—may not be of any use to anyone but you (with the possible exception of women in your social circle who wish to pick out contact lenses and hair dye), but I don’t see how it doesn’t represent a cluster in Thingspace, unless I’m misunderstanding something. Just not a terribly useful one.
I’m not disagreeing that it’s a useless word for communication, simply because of the utility of to others, I’m only thinking of the idea that if there seems to be a need for a word (i.e. to group features you find attractive), then there probably is a corresponding cluster in Thingspace, but it might be one that only you care about.
@Ben Jones:
Remember, Thingspace doesn’t morph to one’s utility function—it is a representation of things in reality, outside one’s head.
But… your head is part of reality, is it not?
Could you not theoretically devise an experiment that showed a correlation between the presence of black hair / green eyes and biochemical changes in your brain and hormonal systems?
This particular cluster in Thingspace—female features which Ben Jones, specifically, finds attractive—may not be of any use to anyone but you (with the possible exception of women in your social circle who wish to pick out contact lenses and hair dye), but I don’t see how it doesn’t represent a cluster in Thingspace, unless I’m misunderstanding something. Just not a terribly useful one.
I’m not disagreeing that it’s a useless word for communication, simply because of the utility of to others, I’m only thinking of the idea that if there seems to be a need for a word (i.e. to group features you find attractive), then there probably is a corresponding cluster in Thingspace, but it might be one that only you care about.