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atucker comments on Q: What has Rationality Done for You? - Less Wrong Discussion

11 Post author: atucker 02 April 2011 04:13AM

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Comment author: atucker 02 April 2011 10:09:44PM 6 points [-]

living seems to have an overall negative utility if you are not the kind if person who enjoys being or helping Eliezer Yudkowsky.

There is a difference between negative utility, and less than maximized utility. There are lots of people who enjoy their lives despite not having done as much as they could, even if they know that they could be doing more.

Its only when you dwell on what you haven't done, aren't doing, or could have done that you actually become unhappy about it. If you don't start from maximum utility and see everything as a worse version of that, then you can easily enjoy the good things in your life.