Mark_Nau comments on Fake Selfishness - Less Wrong

28 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 08 November 2007 02:31AM

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Comment author: Mark_Nau 15 November 2007 01:25:26PM 1 point [-]

J Thomas,

A non-diminishing-returns altruist would hit a point where the utility of spending a marginal resource on a "selfish" purpose dips below the best use of that resource for an "altruistic" purpose. *Every* *single* marginal resource after that should go toward altruistic purposes as well. Why? Because for anyone with non-astronomical resources, there is effectively an endless supply of altruistic options that all provide effectively the same degree of benefit to the recipient. The non-diminishing-returns altruist would increase altruistic allocation in 1:1 proportion to increases in resources.

I know of nobody like this, and it strikes me intuitively as a horrible starting point for a model of any portion of human behavior.

Goods that fall under the heading of "altruistic" are just like any other goods, with people exhibiting different personal tastes and preferences to consume them for their own benefit.