= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
bryjnar comments on Terminal Bias - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (125)
This! If you're risk averse, then you want to avoid risk, and so in the real utility calculation upon which you base your decisions the risk-averse option gets a little extra positive term for being, well, risk-averse. And then the two options no longer have the same expected utility.
Unfortunately, under your new "fixed" utility function there will again be a point of indifference at some slightly different probability/payoff combination, where you, being risk-averse, have to go for the sure deal, so you will end up stuck in an infinite recursion trying to adjust your utility function further and further. I tried to explain this more clearly here.
I don't think that follows. The risk-aversion utility attaches to the choice, not the outcome: I get extra utility for having made a choice with lower expected variance, not for one of the outcomes. If you then offer me a choice between choices, then sure, there will be more risk aversion, but I don't think it's viciously recursive.