nyan_sandwich comments on Terminal Bias - Less Wrong

18 [deleted] 30 January 2012 09:03PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 31 January 2012 04:37:02AM 0 points [-]

Ok, let's taboo "risk aversion", I'm talking about what a minimax algorithm does, where it comes up with possibilities, rates them by utility, and takes actions to avoid the worst outcomes. This is contrasted to a system that also computes probabilities to get expected utilities, and acts to maximize that. Sure you can make your utility function strongly concave to hack the traits of the minimax system into a utility maximizer, but saying that they are "mathematically equivalent" seems to be missing the point.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 31 January 2012 05:01:39AM 4 points [-]

That's called "certainty effect" and no one is claiming that it's a terminal value.

Comment author: [deleted] 31 January 2012 06:08:35AM 0 points [-]

Ok, thanks for the terminology help.