But if you do not “assign utility” and only consider world states, how do you deal with novel discoveries? How does a hunter gatherer integrate category theory into its utility function? I mean, you have to somehow weigh new items?
I just go ahead and assign value directly to “novelty” and “variety”.
Isn’t that too unspecific? Every sequence of digits of the variety of transcendental numbers can be transcribed into musical scores. Or you could use cellular automata to create endless amounts of novel music. But that is not what you mean. If I asked you for a concrete example you could only tell me something that you already expect but are not sure of, which isn’t really novel, or say that you will be able to point out novelty in retrospect. But even with the latter answer there is a fundamental problem, because novelty can’t be crowned in retrospect if you are able to recognize it. In other words, it is predictable what will excite you and make you label something n-o-v-e-l. In this respect what you call “novelty” is just like the creation of music by the computation of the sequences of transcendental numbers, uncertain but ultimately computable. My point, to assign value to “novelty” and “variety” can not replace the assignment of utility to discrete sequences that make interesting music. You have to weigh discrete items, because those that are sufficiently described by “novelty” and “variety” are just random noise.
You have to weigh discrete items, because those that are sufficiently described by “novelty” and “variety” are just random noise.
Continuous random noise is quite monotonous to experience—the opposite of varied. I didn’t say that variety and novelty were my only values, just that I assign value to them. I value good music, too, as well as food and other pleasant stimuli. The theory of diminishing returns comes into play, often caused by the facility of the human mind to attain boredom. I view this as a value continuum rather than a set value.
In my mind, I’m picturing one of those bar graphs that show up when music is playing, except instead of music, it’s my mind and body moving throughout the day, and each bar represents my value of particular things in the world, with new bars added and old ones dying off, and… well, it’s way more complex than, “assign value K to music notes XYZ and call it done.” And several times I’ve been rebuked for using the phrase “assign value to something”, as opposed to “discover value as already-implemented by my brain”.
But if you do not “assign utility” and only consider world states, how do you deal with novel discoveries? How does a hunter gatherer integrate category theory into its utility function? I mean, you have to somehow weigh new items?
I just go ahead and assign value directly to “novelty” and “variety”.
Isn’t that too unspecific? Every sequence of digits of the variety of transcendental numbers can be transcribed into musical scores. Or you could use cellular automata to create endless amounts of novel music. But that is not what you mean. If I asked you for a concrete example you could only tell me something that you already expect but are not sure of, which isn’t really novel, or say that you will be able to point out novelty in retrospect. But even with the latter answer there is a fundamental problem, because novelty can’t be crowned in retrospect if you are able to recognize it. In other words, it is predictable what will excite you and make you label something n-o-v-e-l. In this respect what you call “novelty” is just like the creation of music by the computation of the sequences of transcendental numbers, uncertain but ultimately computable. My point, to assign value to “novelty” and “variety” can not replace the assignment of utility to discrete sequences that make interesting music. You have to weigh discrete items, because those that are sufficiently described by “novelty” and “variety” are just random noise.
Continuous random noise is quite monotonous to experience—the opposite of varied. I didn’t say that variety and novelty were my only values, just that I assign value to them. I value good music, too, as well as food and other pleasant stimuli. The theory of diminishing returns comes into play, often caused by the facility of the human mind to attain boredom. I view this as a value continuum rather than a set value.
In my mind, I’m picturing one of those bar graphs that show up when music is playing, except instead of music, it’s my mind and body moving throughout the day, and each bar represents my value of particular things in the world, with new bars added and old ones dying off, and… well, it’s way more complex than, “assign value K to music notes XYZ and call it done.” And several times I’ve been rebuked for using the phrase “assign value to something”, as opposed to “discover value as already-implemented by my brain”.