Comment on Practicing what you preach

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 07:36:24 GMT

Logos01, we seem to be using different definitions of "rational behavior". So far I can't tell if this stems from a political dispute, or a factual disagreement, or just an argument that took on a life of its own.

We are, and I initially noted this when I parsed "rational behavior" from "instrumentally rational behavior".

Please try to state your first claim (from the great-grandparent comment) without using the word "rational" or "reason" or any synonym thereof.

This is a request that is definitionally impossible, since the topic at hand was "what is rational behavior".

For my own position: if you choose not to do what works or "wins", then complaining about how you conformed to the right principles will accomplish nothing (except in cases where complaining does help). It will not change the outcome, nor will it increase your knowledge.

No contest.

In my case, what I was getting at was the notion that it is possible to present a counterfactual scenario where doing what "loses" is rationally necessary. For this to occur it would be necessary for the processes of rationality available to Louis-the-Loser to have a set of goals, and come to the conclusion that it is necessary to violate all of them.

Let's assume that Louis-the-Loser has a supergoal of giving all humans more happiness over time. Over time, Louis comes to the factual conclusion (with total certainty) that humans are dead set on reducing their happiness to negative levels -- permanently; and that further they have the capacity to do so. Perhaps you now think that Louis's sole remaining rational decision is to fail his supergoal: to kill all humans. And this would be maximal happiness for humans since he'd prevent negative happiness, yes? (And therefore, "win")

But there's a second answer to this question. And it is equally rationally viable. Give the humans what they want. Allow them to constantly and continuously maximize their unhappiness; perhaps even facilitate them in that endeavor. Now, why is this a reasonable thing to do? Because even total certainty can be wrong, and even P=1 statements can be revised.

However, it does require Louis to actually lose.

Discuss