RichardChappell comments on Newcomb's problem happened to me - Less Wrong

37 Post author: Academian 26 March 2010 06:31PM

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Comment author: ata 30 March 2010 08:16:11PM *  1 point [-]

It's instead that bad consequences result from our seeking pleasure (even if all our means-end calculations are perfectly accurate).

That sounds like a contradiction. If you're perfect at doing means-end calculations, and the best way to attain pleasure or happiness is something other than seeking it directly, then your calculations will tell you that, and you will do it.

Maybe I'm missing something, but this sounds more like an aesop about the perils of hedonism, and I'm not sure it would apply to perfect decision-makers.

Comment author: RichardChappell 30 March 2010 09:39:49PM *  3 points [-]

It's no contradiction. Perfect means-end calculations merely ensures that you'll choose the best of the options available given that you've made a means-end calculation. But you might have different (and better) options if you never made any such calculation. (For a crude illustration, imagine that God exists and will reward people who never make any attempt at instrumental reasoning.) By the time your calculations tell you that you never should have calculated in the first place, it's too late.