linkhyrule5 comments on So You Want to Save the World - Less Wrong

41 Post author: lukeprog 01 January 2012 07:39AM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 28 December 2011 07:40:43AM *  20 points [-]

This is an incorrect description of 5-and-10. The description given is of a different problem (one of whose aspects is addressed in the recent cousin_it's writeup, the problem is resolved in that setting by Lemma 2).

5-and-10 problem is concerned with the following (incorrect) line of reasoning by a hypothetical agent:

"I have to decide between $5 and $10. Suppose I decide to choose $5. I know that I'm a money-optimizer, so if I do this, $5 must be more money than $10, so this alternative is better. Therefore, I should choose $5."

Comment author: linkhyrule5 26 July 2013 07:24:43AM 0 points [-]

This is probably a stupid question, but is this reducible to the Lobian obstacle? On the surface, it seems similar.