Sniffnoy comments on A summary of Savage's foundations for probability and utility. - Less Wrong

34 Post author: Sniffnoy 22 May 2011 07:56PM

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Comment author: Sniffnoy 23 May 2011 04:52:24PM 0 points [-]

This strikes me as very similar to Fishburn's proof that P7 implies utility is bounded. (Maybe it's essentially the same? Need to read more carefully; point is, his proof also works by comparing two St. Petersburg lotteries.). Of course, we only get the problem if we imagine that the St. Petersburg lottery is for utility, rather than for money with decreasing marginal (and in this theory, ultimately bounded) utility...

Comment author: endoself 23 May 2011 05:37:09PM 1 point [-]

Yes, this is Fishburn's proof, just as a modus tollens rather than a modus ponens.