PhilGoetz comments on Average utilitarianism must be correct? - Less Wrong

2 Post author: PhilGoetz 06 April 2009 05:10PM

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Tags: utilitarianism theorem ethics proof math utility neumann morgenstern

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Comment author: PhilGoetz 06 April 2009 11:53:09PM 1 point [-]

The utility function defined on lotteries is the expectation value of the utility function defined on futures, so maximizing one means maximizing the expectation value of the other.

Yes. I realize that now.

Comment author: steven0461 07 April 2009 12:06:04AM *  1 point [-]

Ah yes, sorry, I should have known from your "EDIT 2". I don't agree that you were right in essence; averaging over all outcomes and totaling over all outcomes mean the exact same thing as far as I can tell, and maximizing expected utility does correspond to averaging over all outcomes and not just the subset where you're alive.

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