= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
wedrifid comments on The Power of Reinforcement - 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 (467)
Having a terminal value for clothes outside the hamper isn't the point. It is whether given the negotiated relationship boundaries and typical behaviors as they currently are the person being modified would prefer "status quo except I do <influenced behavior> more" over "status quo".
"Too lazy" can be left out of such considerations. That doesn't distinguish between akrasia and considered intent not to do the thing (for whatever reason). For most part judgements like "too lazy" are just another method of attempting influence - usually a method that is inferior to reinforcement.
Well, making judgments like "too lazy" can also provide valuable social cover for other kinds of reinforcement (or punishment), within communities where deliberately altering the behavior of others is seen as unacceptable unless I can frame it as being for their benefit.
More generally, motivated speculation about other people's best interests (including but not limited to positing that they possess unexpressed "terminal values" that happen to align better with what I seem to want than with what they seem to want) can be a very useful way to ignore people's stated preferences without feeling (or being seen by third parties as) indebted to them.