NihilCredo comments on Epistle to the New York Less Wrongians - Less Wrong

90 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 20 April 2011 09:13PM

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Comment author: NihilCredo 23 April 2011 08:25:59PM *  4 points [-]

So, new attempt:

  • Hacking = figuring out clever ways to circumvent [apparently] tough problems
  • Munchkining = constantly identifying which resources are truly relevant, and then actually abiding by that assessment. Or, as a Magic legend once said, "Focus only on what matters."

Closer?

Comment author: shokwave 26 April 2011 02:31:41AM *  4 points [-]

A hacker is just a satisficer that places little value on a norm or norms. A munchkin is an optimiser.

Removing one constraint allows a satisficer to achieve better results on all the other constraints; by contrast, an optimiser will violate as many constraints as it takes to get the best result on the optimised criterion.

Comment author: Davorak 26 April 2011 02:24:01AM 0 points [-]

I came back to ask a similar question. I would not call the issue of choosing cryonics more then a hack. I think it is the difference is that a hacker is often some one who has optimized well in a narrow area while a munchkin will look at the whole system and optimize it and constantly look for new rules to exploit. The difference I see EY drawing is one of local optimization verses global optimization(or at least an attempting to).