A counterexample to the claim “psychologically normal humans (implicitly) have a utility function that looks something like a PDU function”:
Your best friend is deathly ill. I give you a choice between Pill A and Pill B.
If you choose Pill A and have your friend swallow it, he will heal—but he will release a pheromone that will leave you convinced for the rest of your life that he died (and you won’t interact with him ever again).
If you choose Pill B and swallow it, your friend will die—but you will be convinced for the rest of your life that he has fully healed, and is just on a different planet or something. From time to time you will hallucinate pleasant conversations with him, and will never be the wiser.
No, you can’t have both pills. Presumably you will choose Pill A. You do not (only) desire to be in a state of mind where you believe your friend is healthy. You desire that your friend be healthy. You seek the object of your desire, not the state of mind produced by the object of your desire.
My brain has this example tagged as “similar to but not the same as something I’ve read”, but tell me if this is stolen.
From time to time you will hallucinate pleasant conversations with him, and will never be the wiser.
If I can’t distinguish my hallucinations from the real person, then as per the Generalized Anti-Zombie Principle the hallucinations are just as sapient as himself.
How did you do that? There was no reply to that comment when I reloaded the page after retracting it in order to delete it. Are you a ninja or something? :-)
How did you do that? There was no reply to that comment when I reloaded the page after retracting it in order to delete it. Are you a ninja or something?
Worse, a multitasker. That kind of things wreaks havoc on race conditions.
Worse, a multitasker. That kind of things wreaks havoc on race conditions.
I know… Minutes ago I lost a hand in an online poker game (with fake money, fortunately) as a result of being talking to someone else at the same time for the umpteenth time.
I’ve removed my reply and the associated quote.
And I’ve removed the parenthetical in my reply to you.
A counterexample to the claim “psychologically normal humans (implicitly) have a utility function that looks something like a PDU function”:
Your best friend is deathly ill. I give you a choice between Pill A and Pill B.
If you choose Pill A and have your friend swallow it, he will heal—but he will release a pheromone that will leave you convinced for the rest of your life that he died (and you won’t interact with him ever again).
If you choose Pill B and swallow it, your friend will die—but you will be convinced for the rest of your life that he has fully healed, and is just on a different planet or something. From time to time you will hallucinate pleasant conversations with him, and will never be the wiser.
No, you can’t have both pills. Presumably you will choose Pill A. You do not (only) desire to be in a state of mind where you believe your friend is healthy. You desire that your friend be healthy. You seek the object of your desire, not the state of mind produced by the object of your desire.
My brain has this example tagged as “similar to but not the same as something I’ve read”, but tell me if this is stolen.
If I can’t distinguish my hallucinations from the real person, then as per the Generalized Anti-Zombie Principle the hallucinations are just as sapient as himself.
How did you do that? There was no reply to that comment when I reloaded the page after retracting it in order to delete it. Are you a ninja or something? :-)
Worse, a multitasker. That kind of things wreaks havoc on race conditions.
I’ve removed my reply and the associated quote.
I know… Minutes ago I lost a hand in an online poker game (with fake money, fortunately) as a result of being talking to someone else at the same time for the umpteenth time.
And I’ve removed the parenthetical in my reply to you.
One probably just needs to keep open the browser tab from a time when your post had not yet been deleted...