briarandbramble comments on Fake Utility Functions - Less Wrong

22 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 06 December 2007 04:55PM

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Comment author: briarandbramble 07 December 2007 07:12:00AM 0 points [-]

I am wondering whether simple utility functions exist in special cases. For example, if a man is alone and starving in the artic, does he have a simple utility function? Or suppose he's a drug addict criminal psychotic desperately scheming to get the next fix? Also, just to make sure I understand the terminology, suppose it's a lower animal, say an alligator, rather than a human. Does an alligator have a simple utility function?