Human beings often value deontological or virtue ethics, not consequentialism. You will feel (and therefore act, i.e. give of signals) like a bad, guilty person. This effect will vary a lot depending on your disposition. It also might be a poor trade for your utility function, again varying by individual values and dispositions.
It might also motivate you to be extra careful to use the money well so you can justify your actions.
TDT-like considerations, a desire to gain cooperation from other TDT agents on single-shot prisoners’ dilemmas.
Most waiters aren’t TDT agents. TDT’s prisoner’s dilemma algorithm is to cooperate if and only if your opponent will cooperate if and only if you cooperate.
I consider only my first argument for tipping to be a strong one, but on its own I think it is strong enough that I would be quite surprised if a rational sociopath (e.g. Quirrelmort) failed to tip.
I don’t think the TDT argument is a very strong one, but it is slightly stronger than you seem to think.
By tipping you’re not only cooperating with the waiter (who provided good or bad service before the tip was revealed) but also with past and future customers (the tipping practices of past customers may influence the quality of waiter you get and the quality of service they provide, and your tipping practice affects the outcomes experienced by future customers).
It might also motivate you to be extra careful to use the money well so you can justify your actions.
Most waiters aren’t TDT agents. TDT’s prisoner’s dilemma algorithm is to cooperate if and only if your opponent will cooperate if and only if you cooperate.
Agreed.
I don’t think the TDT argument is a very strong one, but it is slightly stronger than you seem to think.
By tipping you’re not only cooperating with the waiter (who provided good or bad service before the tip was revealed) but also with past and future customers (the tipping practices of past customers may influence the quality of waiter you get and the quality of service they provide, and your tipping practice affects the outcomes experienced by future customers).
I don’t think most customers are TDT agents either.
Agreed, that’s why the argument is weak.