Nominull comments on Why you must maximize expected utility - Less Wrong

20 Post author: Benja 13 December 2012 01:11AM

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Comment author: Nominull 13 December 2012 01:44:25PM 9 points [-]

No, not "of course". It only implies that if they're rational actors, which of course they are not. They are deal-averse and if they see you trying to pump them around in a circle they will take their ball and go home.

You can still profit by doing one step of the money pump, and people do. Lots of research goes into exploiting people's circular preferences on things like supermarket displays.

Comment author: ygert 16 December 2012 01:21:32PM 2 points [-]

I think you are taking my point as something stronger than what I said. As you pointed out, with humans you can often money pump them once, but not more than that. So it can not truly be said that that preference is fully circular. It is something weaker, and perhaps you could call it a semi-circular preference. My point was that the thing that humans exhibit is not a “circular preference” in the fullest technical sense of the term.

Comment author: [deleted] 17 December 2012 12:17:29PM 2 points [-]

As you pointed out, with humans you can often money pump them once, but not more than that.

Well...