I think the model of “a composition of subagents with total orders on their preferences” is a descriptive model of inexploitable incomplete preferences, and not a mechanistic model. At least, that was how I interpreted “Why Subagents?”.
I read @johnswentworth as making the claim that such preferences could be modelled as a vetocracy of VNM rational agents, not as claiming that humans (or other objects of study) are mechanistically composed of discrete parts that are themselves VNM rational.
I’d be more interested/excited by a refutation on the grounds of: “incomplete inexploitable preferences are not necessarily adequately modelled as a vetocracy of parts with complete preferences”. VNM rationality and expected utility maximisation is mostly used as a descriptive rather than mechanistic tool anyway.
I think the model of “a composition of subagents with total orders on their preferences” is a descriptive model of inexploitable incomplete preferences, and not a mechanistic model. At least, that was how I interpreted “Why Subagents?”.
I read @johnswentworth as making the claim that such preferences could be modelled as a vetocracy of VNM rational agents, not as claiming that humans (or other objects of study) are mechanistically composed of discrete parts that are themselves VNM rational.
I’d be more interested/excited by a refutation on the grounds of: “incomplete inexploitable preferences are not necessarily adequately modelled as a vetocracy of parts with complete preferences”. VNM rationality and expected utility maximisation is mostly used as a descriptive rather than mechanistic tool anyway.