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iarwain1 comments on Open thread, Feb. 9 - Feb. 15, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion

6 Post author: MrMind 09 February 2015 09:12AM

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Comment author: iarwain1 10 February 2015 02:31:39AM 3 points [-]

I voted yes, but largely because it will probably have very positive effects on my life after the vacation.

Here's my somewhat related question:

I am offering you the possibility to take the world's greatest year-long vacation. Pure enjoyment and happiness, no side effects or risks. However, when you're finished I'm going to give you this pill here that will make you completely forget the entire thing, and will also completely remove any possible subconscious or physiological benefit you might have otherwise gotten from the vacation. For that matter, for all you know you may have already taken the vacation and the pill and you've just forgotten about it.

Don't like that idea? Well, if you want an alternative I can give you a half-decent one day vacation instead. Not so great, no great life-changing experiences or lifelong memories, but at least you'll probably enjoy it and you will remember it when you're finished.

Which do you prefer?

Submitting...

Comment author: Gavin 10 February 2015 05:46:47AM 3 points [-]

The great vacation sounds to me like it ends with me being killed and another version of me being recognized. I realize that these issues of consciousness and continuity are far from settled, but at this point that's my best guess. Incidentally, if anyone thinks there's a solid argument explaining what does and doesn't count as "me" and why, I'd be interested to hear it. Maybe there's a way to dissolve the question?

In any event, I wasn't able to easily choose between one or the other. Wireheading sounds pretty good to me.

Comment author: ZankerH 10 February 2015 09:13:34AM 4 points [-]

Even all else being equal, I'd prefer not to waste one year of my life on something I won't even remember afterwards.

Comment author: Dagon 10 February 2015 03:27:17PM 8 points [-]

Doesn't that describe all of life? Why waste <n> years of your life on something you won't even remember afterwards?

Comment author: Good_Burning_Plastic 11 February 2015 09:40:31PM *  3 points [-]

I picked the half-decent vacation because I assumed iarwain1 was talking about forgetting the great vacation immediately (i.e. within hours) after it's over; if I had to take the pill several decades later I would have picked the great vacation.

(This means that how much an experience matters to me depends on how long I will remember it, rather than just on whether it ever happened at all and/or on whether I will remember it at t = +∞. Does this have some serious badly counterintuitive consequence that I'm missing?)

Comment author: wadavis 11 February 2015 04:39:46PM 2 points [-]

Many philosophies of life fall apart on the cosmic macro scale. Lets not move the goalpost into post-transhumanism, it is clear that is not what ZankerH is talking about.

Comment author: ZankerH 10 February 2015 06:25:18PM 1 point [-]

What are you talking about? I don't have a habit of losing memory after long-term activities, and I'm pretty sure that's normal.

Comment author: ChristianKl 10 February 2015 06:45:20PM 5 points [-]

Death.

Comment author: Dagon 10 February 2015 08:36:35PM 1 point [-]

I think you'll lose all your memories sometime in the relatively near future (say, less than 100 years).

Comment author: Mac 15 February 2015 10:12:49PM *  0 points [-]

Great vacation for me. I'm a happiness points maximizer.

Even in the worst case scenario described by Gavin, in which I'm killed at the end of the great vacation and a new me is recognized afterwards, I would still choose the great vacation - much more happiness is created.

Very interesting results to this poll.

Edit: Grammar

Comment author: Romashka 15 February 2015 06:13:53PM 0 points [-]

I voted for the half-decent one, but then I started thinking about how many things I would be able to do during that awesome year and also deny wholly honestly later... Since obviously, you would have to include my preferences into your planning, to make the time truly great.

Ohh, the visions of daring and mercy... Come on, pay up!

Comment author: Kindly 10 February 2015 12:59:48PM 0 points [-]

I voted yes, but largely because it will probably have very positive effects on my life after the vacation.

Really? I voted no, because I couldn't think of any positive effects on my life after the vacation. What did you have in mind?

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