Squark comments on Bayesians vs. Barbarians - Less Wrong
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Comments (270)
I don't understand the assumption that each rationalist prefers to be a civilian while someone else risks her life. They can be rational and use a completely altruistic utility function that values all people equally a priori. The strongest rationalist society is the rationalist society where everyone have the same terminal values (in an absolute rather than relative sense).
That isn't an assumption Eliezer is making, it's an assumption he's attacking.
It doesn't look like it:
Eliezer is analyzing the situation as a Prisoner's Dilemma: different players have different utility functions. This analysis would be completely redundant in a society where everyone have the same utility function (or at least sufficiently similar / non-egocentric utility functions). In such a society there wouldn't be a need for a lottery: the soldiers would be those most skilled for the job. There would be no need for drugs / shooting deserters: the soldiers would want to fight because the choice to fight would be associated with positive expected utility (even if it means high likelihood of death).