lukeprog comments on The Pleasures of Rationality - Less Wrong

16 Post author: lukeprog 28 October 2011 02:35AM

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Comment author: lukeprog 28 October 2011 10:18:41PM 3 points [-]

As above, I use "Aumann agreement" to mean "Agreement reached by, among other things, taking into account the Bayesian evidence the other's testimony." Vladimir is right that most of the work is done by convincing argument in most cases. However, there are many cases (e.g., "which sentence sounds better in this paragraph?") where taking the evidence of the other's opinion actually does change the alternative. Also, Anna and I (for example) have quite a lot of respect for the other's opinion on many subjects, and so we update more heavily from each other's testimony than most people would.

Comment author: ciphergoth 29 October 2011 08:09:25AM 3 points [-]

I don't think Aumann agreement is a good term for this; there's a huge difference between that mathematically precise procedure and the fuzzy process you're describing.

Comment author: juliawise 29 October 2011 01:47:24PM 4 points [-]

Agreed. This decision-making method is so common we normally don't name it. E.g. "I was going to dye my hair, but my friend told me about the terrible experience she had, and now I think I'll go to a salon instead of trying it at home." I don't see a need to make up jargon for "considering the advice of trusted people."

It seems like the purpose of this post was mostly to share your enjoyment of how wise your coworkers are and how well you cooperate with each other. Which is fine, but let's not technify it unnecessarily.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 29 October 2011 10:40:38AM 3 points [-]

The crucial point is that it's not a procedure, it's a property, an indicator and not a method.

Comment author: ciphergoth 31 October 2011 07:48:35AM 0 points [-]

I'm sorry, I don't see what you're getting at I'm afraid!

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 31 October 2011 10:43:01AM 1 point [-]

Aumann agreement is already there, it's a fact of a certain situation, not a procedure for getting to an agreement, unlike the practice of forming a common understanding Luke talked about. My comment was basically a pun on your use of the word "procedure".