One error of the stag/rabbit hunt framing is that it makes it explicit that it’s a coordination problem, not a values problem. To frame it differently would require that the stag and rabbit hunts not produce different utility numbers, but yield different resources or certainties of resource. If a rabbit hunt yields 3d2 rabbits hunted per hunter, but the stag hunt yields 1d2-1 stag hunted if all hunters work together and 0 if they don’t, then even with a higher expected yield of meat and of hide from the stag hunt, for some people the rabbit hunt might yield higher expected utility, since the certainty of not starving is much more utility than an increase in the amount of hides.
In order to confidently assert that a Schelling point exists, one should have viewed the situation from everyone’s point of view and applying their actual goals- NOT look at everyone’s point of view and apply your goal, or the average goals, or the goals they think they have.
Thanks. I think I gained useful insights from this but found the wording a bit confusing. I assume you mean something like “The stag/rabbit frame assumes that it’s a coordination, when sometimes [often?] it’s a values disagreement. In real life people have different goals, so don’t necessarily get the same utility from a given action. And in the literal rabbit/stag/hunters example, the various options don’t actually produce the same utility since people get diminishing returns from meat.”
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“The Schelling Point is Rabbit” is (hopefully obviously) a bit of a simplification, and I agree that you’ll want to actually look at everyone’s goals in a given situation.
One error of the stag/rabbit hunt framing is that it makes it explicit that it’s a coordination problem, not a values problem. To frame it differently would require that the stag and rabbit hunts not produce different utility numbers, but yield different resources or certainties of resource. If a rabbit hunt yields 3d2 rabbits hunted per hunter, but the stag hunt yields 1d2-1 stag hunted if all hunters work together and 0 if they don’t, then even with a higher expected yield of meat and of hide from the stag hunt, for some people the rabbit hunt might yield higher expected utility, since the certainty of not starving is much more utility than an increase in the amount of hides.
In order to confidently assert that a Schelling point exists, one should have viewed the situation from everyone’s point of view and applying their actual goals- NOT look at everyone’s point of view and apply your goal, or the average goals, or the goals they think they have.
Thanks. I think I gained useful insights from this but found the wording a bit confusing. I assume you mean something like “The stag/rabbit frame assumes that it’s a coordination, when sometimes [often?] it’s a values disagreement. In real life people have different goals, so don’t necessarily get the same utility from a given action. And in the literal rabbit/stag/hunters example, the various options don’t actually produce the same utility since people get diminishing returns from meat.”
...
“The Schelling Point is Rabbit” is (hopefully obviously) a bit of a simplification, and I agree that you’ll want to actually look at everyone’s goals in a given situation.