Economists and other social theorists often take the concept of utility for granted.
Armchair economists and EAs even more so. Take for granted, and fail to document WHICH version of the utility concept they’re using.
For me, utility is a convenient placeholder for the underlying model that our ordinal preferences expressed through action (I did X, meaning I prefer the expected sum of value of outcomes likely from X). Utility is the “value” that is preferred. Note that it’s kind of a circular defining—it’s the thing that drives decisions, proven by the fact that actions take place.
More expansive uses of the term come about by forgetting that this definition doesn’t carry much information about anything. It would be nice if we could find underlying consistent preferences, and this would be a good term for the unification of them. And if they’re long-term consistent preferences, maybe it should add up over time to explain time-preferences. And if everyone is equal, then clearly we can sum this thing up to get a group value.
Armchair economists and EAs even more so. Take for granted, and fail to document WHICH version of the utility concept they’re using.
For me, utility is a convenient placeholder for the underlying model that our ordinal preferences expressed through action (I did X, meaning I prefer the expected sum of value of outcomes likely from X). Utility is the “value” that is preferred. Note that it’s kind of a circular defining—it’s the thing that drives decisions, proven by the fact that actions take place.
More expansive uses of the term come about by forgetting that this definition doesn’t carry much information about anything. It would be nice if we could find underlying consistent preferences, and this would be a good term for the unification of them. And if they’re long-term consistent preferences, maybe it should add up over time to explain time-preferences. And if everyone is equal, then clearly we can sum this thing up to get a group value.