TheOtherDave comments on The Useful Idea of Truth - Less Wrong

77 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 02 October 2012 06:16PM

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Comment author: V_V 03 October 2012 10:49:02AM *  1 point [-]

Maybe the first two just argues for Platonism and modal realism (although I note that Eliezer explicitly disclaimed being a modal realist).

I think Yudkowsky is a Platonist, and I'm not sure he has a consistent position on modal realism, since when arguing on morality he seemed to espouse it: see his comment here.

For example, "You should two-box in Newcomb's problem." If I say "Alice has a false belief that she should two-box in Newcomb's problem" it doesn't seem like I'm saying that her map doesn't correspond to the territory.

I don't think that "You should two-box in Newcomb's problem." is actually a normative statement, even if it contains a "should": you can rephrase it epistemically as "If you two-box in Newcomb's problem then you will maximize your expected utility".

Therefore, if you say "Alice has a false belief that if she two-boxes in Newcomb's problem then she will maximize her expected utility" you are saying that her belief doesn't correspond to the mathematical constructs underlying Newcomb's problem. If you take the Platonist position that mathematical constructs exist as external entities ("the territory"), then yes, you are saying that her map doesn't correspond to the territory.

Comment author: TheOtherDave 03 October 2012 02:10:21PM 2 points [-]

I don't think that "You should two-box in Newcomb's problem." is actually a normative statement, even if it contains a "should": you can rephrase it epistemically as "If you two-box in Newcomb's problem then you will maximize your expected utility".

Well, sure, a utilitarian can always "rephrase" should-statements that way; to a utilitarian what "X should Y" means is "Y maximizes X's expected utility." That doesn't make "X should Y" not a normative statement, it just means that utilitarian normative statements are also objective statements about reality.

Conversely, I'm not sure a deontologist would agree that you can rephrase one as the other... that is, a deontologist might coherently (and incorrectly) say "Yes, two-boxing maximizes expected utility, but you still shouldn't do it."

Comment author: V_V 03 October 2012 02:57:41PM *  0 points [-]

I think you are conflating two different types of "should" statements: moral injunctions and decision-theoretical injunctions.

The statement "You should two-box in Newcomb's problem" is normally interpreted as a decision-theoretical injunction. As such, it can be rephrased epistemically as "If you two-box in Newcomb's problem then you will maximize your expected utility".

But you could also interpret the statement "You should two-box in Newcomb's problem" as the moral injunction "It is morally right for you to two-box in Newcomb's problem". Moral injunctions can't be rephrased epistemically, at least unless you assume a priori that there exist some external moral truths that can't be further rephrased.

The utilitarianist of your comment is doing that. His actual rephrasing is "If you two-box in Newcomb's problem then you will maximize the expected universe cumulative utility". This assumes that:

  • This universe cumulative utility exists as an external entity

  • The statement "It is morally right for you to maximize the expected universe cumulative utility" exists as an external moral truth.

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