Well, imagine if a util were like ten years of constant joy. In that case, I’d rather have n = 1. Similarly, if a util is like finding a penny, I really don’t care what n is, but I may as well go with a pretty large one so that if I do “win”, I actually notice it. I chose n = 10 because a 10% chance for 1024 slices of Wonder bread on an empty stomach sounds much better than a sure shot for one slice of Wonder bread when I’m hungry (I’d barely even notice that), and also much better than a tiny chance for some ridiculously high number of utilons (I almost certainly won’t be able to enjoy it). n = 9 and n = 11 would also be okay choices; I didn’t arrive at 10 analytically.
The problem here is that a “util” (insofaras this is meaningful by itself) isn’t like any one consistent thing, because by definition it isn’t subject to diminishing marginal utility, etc.
I know 1024 slices of Wonder bread isn’t 1024 times as useful to a regular hungry person as one slice of Wonder bread. The first slice is the one which the util is defined as, then all the additional utils would be like “something else” that gives exactly as much enjoyment, or just that exact amount of enjoyment but 1023 more times.
Well, imagine if a util were like ten years of constant joy. In that case, I’d rather have n = 1. Similarly, if a util is like finding a penny, I really don’t care what n is, but I may as well go with a pretty large one so that if I do “win”, I actually notice it. I chose n = 10 because a 10% chance for 1024 slices of Wonder bread on an empty stomach sounds much better than a sure shot for one slice of Wonder bread when I’m hungry (I’d barely even notice that), and also much better than a tiny chance for some ridiculously high number of utilons (I almost certainly won’t be able to enjoy it). n = 9 and n = 11 would also be okay choices; I didn’t arrive at 10 analytically.
The problem here is that a “util” (insofaras this is meaningful by itself) isn’t like any one consistent thing, because by definition it isn’t subject to diminishing marginal utility, etc.
I know 1024 slices of Wonder bread isn’t 1024 times as useful to a regular hungry person as one slice of Wonder bread. The first slice is the one which the util is defined as, then all the additional utils would be like “something else” that gives exactly as much enjoyment, or just that exact amount of enjoyment but 1023 more times.