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TheOtherDave comments on Not for the Sake of Happiness (Alone) - Less Wrong
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I believe you to be sincere when you say
but I can't imagine experiencing that. If the utility of a function goes down, it seems my happiness from seeing that function must necessarily go down as well. This discrepancy causes me to believe there is a low-level difference between what you consider happiness and what I consider happiness, but I can't explain mine any farther than I already have.
I don't know how else to say it, but I don't feel I'm actually making that assertion. I'm just saying: "By my understanding of hedony=H(x), awareness=O(x), and utility=F(x), I don't see any possible situation where H(W) =/= F(O(W)). If they're indistinguishable, wouldn't it make sense to say they're the same thing?"
Edit: formatting
I agree that if two things are indistinguishable in principle, it makes sense to use the same label for both.
It is not nearly as clear to me that "what makes me happy" and "what makes the world better" are indistinguishable sets as it seems to be to you, so I am not as comfortable using the same label for both sets as you seem to be.
You may be right that we don't use "happiness" to refer to the same things. I'm not really sure how to explore that further; what I use "happiness" to refer to is an experiential state I don't know how to convey more precisely without in effect simply listing synonyms. (And we're getting perilously close to "what if what I call 'red' is what you call 'green'?" territory, here.)
Without a much more precise way of describing patterns of neuron-fire, I don't think either of us can describe happiness more than we have so far. Having discussed the reactions in-depth, though, I think we can reasonably conclude that, whatever they are, they're not the same, which answers at least part of my initial question.
Thanks!