DanielLC comments on Deconstructing the riddle of experience vs. memory - Less Wrong

8 Post author: michael_b 17 February 2015 03:36PM

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Comment author: DanielLC 17 February 2015 08:09:48PM 1 point [-]

I think it might be better to remove the other effects. If you could pick between having fun and remembering having fun, all else being equal, which would you choose?

Comment author: raubaut 23 February 2015 04:20:06PM *  0 points [-]

If that's the case, then I think it depends on how frequently you get to have fun in the present.

The value of remembering having fun greatly exceeds the value of having fun if you don't get to have fun very often -- because memories can continue to bring happiness through reflection. But if you get to have fun all the time, then the memories lose much of their value. If you have fun ALL of the time, then there's very little time to reflect on memories.

Comment author: michael_b 20 February 2015 10:00:45AM *  0 points [-]

So,

  1. you can have an amazingly beautiful night that you don't remember the next day
  2. you can have a memory implanted that you had an amazingly beautiful night that never actually happened

which do you choose?

I like this because 1 has the benefit of being closer to the actual human experience.