Huh, it just feels to me like the central reason for why we should expect merging utility functions to be an optimal choice. The theorem basically says “the set of optimal bargaining solutions in value space look like some weighted average of utility functions”.
Ahh, I read it more closely now and you’re right, it is relevant for the question I asked. I was just thinking of a more specific question, which I didn’t clearly verbalize. :)
I was thinking more specifically of “choosing to merge utility functions instead of fighting” (I vaguely recall Scott Alexander having had a short story of this, but couldn’t find it) and was hoping that maybe there’d be some discussion of when agents would choose such a merge instead of being in conflict. The Harsanyi result doesn’t seem to say anything about that, but it is certainly relevant for the case where they have already decided to trade rather than fight.
Huh, it just feels to me like the central reason for why we should expect merging utility functions to be an optimal choice. The theorem basically says “the set of optimal bargaining solutions in value space look like some weighted average of utility functions”.
Ahh, I read it more closely now and you’re right, it is relevant for the question I asked. I was just thinking of a more specific question, which I didn’t clearly verbalize. :)
I was thinking more specifically of “choosing to merge utility functions instead of fighting” (I vaguely recall Scott Alexander having had a short story of this, but couldn’t find it) and was hoping that maybe there’d be some discussion of when agents would choose such a merge instead of being in conflict. The Harsanyi result doesn’t seem to say anything about that, but it is certainly relevant for the case where they have already decided to trade rather than fight.
You may be thinking of https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/03/21/repost-the-demiurges-older-brother/?
Yes that one, thank you.
I think this is the Scott Alexander post you’re referring to?
Thanks! That’s definitely discussing the same topics as the story was. It was an actual story though, not an essay.