nshepperd comments on Consequentialism Need Not Be Nearsighted - Less Wrong

53 Post author: orthonormal 02 September 2011 07:37AM

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Comment author: nshepperd 03 September 2011 07:36:16AM *  4 points [-]

For an example of acausal consequences: getting a million dollars as a result of one-boxing in Newcomb's. Or getting a hundred dollars as a result of two-boxing.

I would argue that TDT (or UDT) is actually a more consequentialist theory than CDT. The qualitative difference between consequentialism and deontology is that for consequentialists the most important thing is a good outcome, whereas deontology means following the correct rules, regardless of the outcome. But it's casual decision theorists, after all, that continue to adhere to their decision ritual that two-boxes, and loses, in the face of all the empirical evidence (well, hypothetical empirical evidence, anyway :p) that it's the wrong thing to do!