Used fungibility to switch from dance classes to aikido (I’m trying to buy more awareness of and control over my body, and aikido is a lot cheaper).
Used timeless decision theory to stop looking at Google reader in bed (much more enjoyable mornings). Also to do situps right when I wake up and put away my laundry right when it’s done.
Thought about VOI and decided it was worth buying one of those lights-up-gradually alarm clocks since I sleep in a basement (seems to be improving my alertness in the am a lot, I had noticed woke up feeling more rested when I fell asleep on our couch than when I slept in my dark room).
Used timeless decision theory to stop looking at Google reader in bed (much more enjoyable mornings).
Of course, CDT or EDT would have dictated exactly the same decision. I suppose by “use timeless decision theory” you mean something along the lines of using it kind of like a motivational parable with the connotations of “do the virtuous/best/consequentialist thing”.
I’m guessing the consideration in question is “I’m deciding for all similar situations, not just this one, so I should be evaluating this decision based on its simultaneous impact on all similar situations, not just on the current situation”.
Yes, this is pretty much it. Thinking about the choice in this way made it easier to change the behavior and stick with it, since I expect future me will be about as lax as present me is about to choose to be. It’s a helpful reframing to make the choice stick.
I’m guessing the consideration in question is “I’m deciding for all similar situations, not just this one, so I should be evaluating this decision based on its simultaneous impact on all similar situations, not just on the current situation”.
Which is perfectly fine as verbal symbols to manipulate one’s own behavior. For that matter, if chanting out Bayes’ theorem or the Schrödinger equation helps to get you to do what you know you should (would-want) to do then bravo. It would only be a mistake if you believed that it was actually the implementation of TDT (rather than CDT) or your knowledge of Quantum Mechanics that was making the difference, rather than a psychological manipulation trick.
It would only be a mistake if you believed that it was actually the implementation of TDT (rather than CDT) or your knowledge of Quantum Mechanics that was making the difference, rather than a psychological manipulation trick.
What distinctions are you drawing between “implementing TDT”, “psychological manipulation”, and “a psychological manipulation trick”?
What distinctions are you drawing between “implementing TDT”, “psychological manipulation”, and “a psychological manipulation trick”?
“There is something special about Timeless Decision Theory that would lead it to give a different answer to CDT (or EDT for that matter) to the question ‘In this specific situation what decision will give the best expected utility?’”
This is distinct to “If I think about TDT (or ‘The Secret’) I can actually get myself to do more of the stuff that would like to do.”
Used fungibility to switch from dance classes to aikido (I’m trying to buy more awareness of and control over my body, and aikido is a lot cheaper).
Used timeless decision theory to stop looking at Google reader in bed (much more enjoyable mornings). Also to do situps right when I wake up and put away my laundry right when it’s done.
Thought about VOI and decided it was worth buying one of those lights-up-gradually alarm clocks since I sleep in a basement (seems to be improving my alertness in the am a lot, I had noticed woke up feeling more rested when I fell asleep on our couch than when I slept in my dark room).
Of course, CDT or EDT would have dictated exactly the same decision. I suppose by “use timeless decision theory” you mean something along the lines of using it kind of like a motivational parable with the connotations of “do the virtuous/best/consequentialist thing”.
I’m guessing the consideration in question is “I’m deciding for all similar situations, not just this one, so I should be evaluating this decision based on its simultaneous impact on all similar situations, not just on the current situation”.
Yes, this is pretty much it. Thinking about the choice in this way made it easier to change the behavior and stick with it, since I expect future me will be about as lax as present me is about to choose to be. It’s a helpful reframing to make the choice stick.
Which is perfectly fine as verbal symbols to manipulate one’s own behavior. For that matter, if chanting out Bayes’ theorem or the Schrödinger equation helps to get you to do what you know you should (would-want) to do then bravo. It would only be a mistake if you believed that it was actually the implementation of TDT (rather than CDT) or your knowledge of Quantum Mechanics that was making the difference, rather than a psychological manipulation trick.
What distinctions are you drawing between “implementing TDT”, “psychological manipulation”, and “a psychological manipulation trick”?
“There is something special about Timeless Decision Theory that would lead it to give a different answer to CDT (or EDT for that matter) to the question ‘In this specific situation what decision will give the best expected utility?’”
This is distinct to “If I think about TDT (or ‘The Secret’) I can actually get myself to do more of the stuff that would like to do.”