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Kindly comments on A definition of wireheading - Less Wrong
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If "maximize pleasure" was actually that person's utility function, then no. But in practice "somebody decides that he wants to maximize his pleasure in life" sounds to me more like someone who is wrong about their utility function. Of course, maybe I'm wrong about all the complicated things I think I want, and pleasure really is the only important thing.
Or possibly it's a decision like "Maximizing pleasure is the aspect of my utility function I should focus on now" in which case wireheading is also the wrong move.
Well how do you know what somebody's true utility function is? Or even whether they have one?
You don't; moreover, to me at least, it's probably not even immediately obvious what I truly value. Which is how it happens that someone can be wrong about what they want.
But most people are probably alike to an extent, so if you figure out that maximizing pleasure isn't the only thing that's important to you, you might suspect that other people also care about other things besides maximizing pleasure.
Well then how do you know your own utility function? Is there any way in principle to test it? Is there any way to know that you are wrong about what you want?