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gjm comments on Welcome to Less Wrong! (9th thread, May 2016) - Less Wrong Discussion
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Thanks for that explanation of utility functions, gjm, and thanks to protostar for asking the question. I've been struggling with the same issue, and nothing I've read seems to hold up when I try to apply it to a concrete use case.
What do you think about trying to build a utility TABLE for major, point-in-time life decisions, though, like buying a home or choosing a spouse?
P.S. I'd upvote your response to protostar, but I can't seem to make that happen.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by a utility table, but here is an example of one LWer doing something a bit like a net utility calculation to decide between two houses.
One piece of advice I've seen in several places is that when you have a big and difficult decision to make you should write down your leading options and the major advantages and disadvantages of each. How much further gain (if any) there is from quantifying them and actually doing calculations, I don't know; my gut says probably usually not much, but my gut is often wrong.