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ciphergoth comments on Akrasia, hyperbolic discounting, and picoeconomics - Less Wrong
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I just have one question, it's so obvious but I don't remember it being asked anywhere.
Humans and all animals tested use hyperbolic discounting + hacks on top of it to deal with paradoxes. Why hasn't evolution implemented exponential discounting in any animal? Is it technically impossible the way brain works (perhaps by local optimum), or is hyperbolic discounting + hacks better in the real world than exponential discounting?
I think this is a far more fundamental problem than anything else about akrasia.
I'm curious to know the answer to that one. My guess is that hyperbolic discounting is technically much easier to implement, and the circumstances of animals in the wild provide fewer opportunities for akrasia so it's not worth the cost of fixing. However there is doubtless room for more investigation of the evolutionary psychology of hyperbolic discounting.
EDIT also see this comment