timtyler comments on What Are Probabilities, Anyway? - Less Wrong

22 Post author: Wei_Dai 11 December 2009 12:25AM

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Comment author: Wei_Dai 12 December 2009 12:23:39AM 1 point [-]

I think we need to distinguish between what a rational agent should do, and what a non-rational human should do to become more rational. Nesov's reply to you also concerns the former, I think, but I'm more interested in the latter here.

Unlike a rational agent, we don't have well-defined preferences, and the preferences that we think we have can be changed by arguments. What to do about this situation? Should we stop thinking up or listening to arguments, and just fill in the fuzzy parts of our preferences with randomness or indifference, in order to emulate a rational agent in the most direct manner possible? That doesn't make much sense to me.

I'm not sure what we should do exactly, but whatever it is, it seems like arguments must make up a large part of it.

Comment author: timtyler 12 December 2009 10:07:34AM *  -1 points [-]

FWIW, my preferences have not been changed by arguments in the last 20 years. So I don't think your "we" includes me.