Psychohistorian comments on Utilons vs. Hedons - Less Wrong
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Assume you are indifferent towards buying Chocolate Bar A at $1 per bar. How much would you pay for a chocolate bar that is 3.25186 times as delicious? What about one that is 12.35 times as delicious? 2^60 times as delicious? What if you were really, really hungry, so much so that vaguely edible dirt would be delicious. Would that 3.25186 remain significant to 5 decimal places, or might it change slightly?
It is not an argument; it is evidence. I cannot measure how many hedons I am experiencing now. I can kind of compare it to how many hedons I've experienced at times in the past, but it would be difficult. I certainly couldn't say I'm experiencing 10% less hedonic pleasure than my average day, 20% more than I did yesterday, and 45% less than my happiest day ever. The fact that hedons do not appear to yield to simple quantification is why I cannot imagine doubling my hedons. This fact also suggests that "double your hedons" is not a meaningful, or even possible operation, much as it seems meaningless to say that a chocolate bar is 3.873 times as tasty as another chocolate bar; at best I could say it's better or worse.