SilasBarta comments on Morality as Parfitian-filtered Decision Theory? - Less Wrong
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Comments (270)
I dislike this. Here is why:
Parental care doesn't force us to modify standard decision theory either. Parents clearly include their children's welfare in their own utility functions.
If you and EY think that the PD players don't like to rat on their friends, all you are saying is that those standard PD payoffs aren't the ones that match the players' real utility functions, because the real functions would include a hefty penalty for being a rat.
Maybe we need a new decision theory for AIs. I don't know; I have barely begun to consider the issues. But we definitely don't need a new one to handle human moral behavior. Not for these three examples, and not if we think that acting morally is rational.
Upvoted simply for bringing these issues into the open.
Also, I should clarify another point:
My point was that I previously agreed with EY that the payoff matrix doesn't accurately represent how people would perceive the situation if they were in a LPDS, but that I now think that people's reaction to it could just as well be explained by assuming that they accept the canonical payoff matrix as accurate, but pursue those utilities under a constrained decision theory. And also, that their intuitions are due to that decision theory, not necessarily from valuing the outcomes differently.
Ok, I think I see the distinction. I recognize that it is tempting to postulate a 2 part decision theory because it seems that we have two different kinds of considerations to deal with. It seems we just can't compare ethical motivations like loyalty with selfish motivations like getting a light sentence. "It is like comparing apples and oranges!", screams our intuition.
However my intuition has a piece screaming even louder, "It is one decision, you idiot! Of course you have to bring all of the various kinds of considerations together to make the decision. Shut up and calculate - then decide."