“Honor” is not well-defined. He could have meant UDT. He also could have meant something closer to always keeping his promises. Someone using UDT wouldn’t keep a stupid promise. They wouldn’t make a stupid promise either, but they might not always have been using UDT. They also might not keep a promise to someone insufficiently rational, though that could cause problems with people who aren’t sure they’re sufficiently rational, people who find out about the broken promise later, etc.
Also, the quote makes it sound like he’s choosing honor over the world. The way Eliezer sees it, he’s choosing to have the opportunity to save the world.
I meant “honor” as shorthand for “never ever break your word”, yes.
Should one break stupid promises? I don’t want to add a clause to every promise saying “unless my future self decides the promise is stupid”; this seems to way underpower oaths.
It seems reasonable to me that if I make stupid promises, my subsequent choices are to behave stupidly or behave (as the word is being used here) dishonorably. Those aren’t great choices, but that shouldn’t surprise me: stupid acts often result in not-so-great consequences.
“Honor” is not well-defined. He could have meant UDT. He also could have meant something closer to always keeping his promises. Someone using UDT wouldn’t keep a stupid promise. They wouldn’t make a stupid promise either, but they might not always have been using UDT. They also might not keep a promise to someone insufficiently rational, though that could cause problems with people who aren’t sure they’re sufficiently rational, people who find out about the broken promise later, etc.
Also, the quote makes it sound like he’s choosing honor over the world. The way Eliezer sees it, he’s choosing to have the opportunity to save the world.
I meant “honor” as shorthand for “never ever break your word”, yes.
Should one break stupid promises? I don’t want to add a clause to every promise saying “unless my future self decides the promise is stupid”; this seems to way underpower oaths.
It seems reasonable to me that if I make stupid promises, my subsequent choices are to behave stupidly or behave (as the word is being used here) dishonorably. Those aren’t great choices, but that shouldn’t surprise me: stupid acts often result in not-so-great consequences.
Recovering from stupid choices is a practical question for many of us.