PhilGoetz comments on On dollars, utility, and crack cocaine - Less Wrong

13 Post author: PhilGoetz 04 April 2009 12:00AM

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Comment author: PhilGoetz 04 April 2009 01:22:22AM *  2 points [-]

So I'm skeptical of the claim that "poor folks" playing the lottery or using crack are generally maximizing their expected utility.

So would I be, if I heard someone make that claim. I'll edit the post to clarify that I don't mean that.

EDIT: Hmm. While I don't explicitly make that claim, I think it is possible that they are generally doing much better at it than we think they are.

Nobody maximizes their expected utility.