MatthewB comments on On the Power of Intelligence and Rationality - Less Wrong

13 Post author: alyssavance 23 December 2009 10:49AM

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Comment author: tut 27 December 2009 09:00:12AM 0 points [-]

Take the example of killing Jews. This was a top-level Nazi goal.

Which is part of the reason for calling them irrational. Killing the jews was originally a means to the end of preventing jews from breeding wtih (other) germans, which itself was a means to the end of making Germany stronger. When the killing became a top level goal that was what Eliezer would call subgoal stomp. The means became a supergoal, and their pursuit of that goal was part of what defeated the goal that it originally should help achieve.

Comment author: MatthewB 27 December 2009 09:25:29AM *  0 points [-]

By this subgoal stomp, do you mean that when their subgoal (Killing Jews) became a priority, that it diverted resources away from their supergoal (world domination, or at least the domination of Europe/Asia), and thus they stomped on their own supergoal by irrationally promoting the importance of the subgoal?

If that is what you mean, then I think that a strong case could be made for this, as a lot of manpower was sucked into that particular void.

Comment author: tut 27 December 2009 09:36:17AM 0 points [-]

By this subgoal stomp, do you mean that when their subgoal (Killing Jews) became a priority, that it diverted resources away from their supergoal...

Yup. Exactly.