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Perplexed comments on Varying amounts of subjective experience - Less Wrong Discussion

-7 Post author: DanielLC 16 December 2010 03:02AM

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Tags: consciousness utilitarianism utility

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Comment author: Perplexed 17 December 2010 01:51:40AM 0 points [-]

I assume you are joking. But, to respond seriously:

  • No two people have the same information. I knew I have a stomach ache before I shared that information with you.
  • Even if they had the same information, that doesn't necessarily mean they have the same degrees of belief because they may have different priors. Many of my priors have a genetic basis (fear of snakes, for example) and you and I have different genes.
  • Even if they have the same beliefs they don't necessarily have the same preferences.
  • And even if they have the same preferences and the same inclination to act based on self-interest, they have different selves. If they have one stick of bubble-gum between them, and flip a coin to see who gets it, only one of them ends up with the disutility of gum on his face.
Comment author: DanielLC 17 December 2010 02:38:26AM -1 points [-]

They don't start with the same priors or preferences, but unless they have a good reason to trust their own more than the other person's, they'd use both.

For example, imagine you were in some treasure hunt. Everyone has a different, imperfect map. This could result in you all looking in different places, but if you stop and think about it (and it's not a competition) you'll just share maps. The fact that one map happened to be in your hands doesn't make it better.

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