Comment on On dollars, utility, and crack cocaine

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:57:03 GMT

There is at least one parallel in evolution. Many bacteria have heat shock proteins that inhibit DNA proofreading. That means that they respond to stress by increasing their mutation rate. It will probably kill them, but if the entire colony does it, it's more likely to survive.

It's not quite the same. If you count the payoff to the bacteria to include the lives of all its descendants, then it may still be "rational".

But maybe it is the same. Presumably, we instinctively act in a way that counts the utility of all our descendants in our utility functions.

Discuss