asr comments on Stupid Questions Thread - January 2014 - Less Wrong

10 Post author: RomeoStevens 13 January 2014 02:31AM

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Comment author: asr 29 January 2014 01:57:12AM *  0 points [-]

I feel like it happens to me in practice routinely. I see options A, B, C and D and I keep oscillating between them. I am not indifferent; I perceive pairwise differences but can't find a global optimum. This can happen in commonplace situations, e.g., when choosing between brands of pasta sauce or somesuch. And I'll spend several minutes agonizing before finally picking one.

I had the impression this happened to a lot of people.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 29 January 2014 07:24:33AM 1 point [-]

That looks like noisy comparisons being made on near indistinguishable things. (Life tip: if they're too difficult to distinguish, it hardly matters which you choose. Just pick one already.)