Todd Bonzalez

temporarily embarrassed Von Neumann probe

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

You can change your environment so that long-term rewards exert greater control over your behaviour than short-term rewards do, but you would only be compelled to do so because of the influence of the greater prospective reward. The decision maker is still being driven by the control of reward and punishment regardless of whether those prospective results are immediate or long-term.

The decision maker can be viewed as more of a thermometer than a thermostat. Instead of evaluating ambient temperature, the decision maker evaluates prospective rewards and punishments. Ultimately, reward and punishment are the factors that dictate why one option is chosen over another.

‘Knowledge’ is what behavioural scientists would call ‘mediating stimuli’ in their jargon. In any case, it’s important to avoid conflating the decision maker with the forces being exerted on the decision if you want to understand volition.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

That seems like an example of one reinforcer (the reinforcing effects of the meal and praise) being stronger than another. I wouldn’t say that the reinforcing effects of a stimulus usually become stronger after successive administrations of a reinforcing stimulus. Satiety curves describe how the reinforcing effect of a reinforcer diminishes (at least temporarily) after administration.

Granted, the process of reinforcement describes how a behaviour becomes stronger (i.e. more frequent under a given set of mediating stimuli) while the reinforcing effect of each individual reinforcer is attenuated by the process of satiety/habituation.

Some people view the decision maker as an impartial judge evaluating prospective outcomes. Others view the decision maker as the crooked judge putting a thumb on the scale to determine the winner (although that just defers the question of what is compelling the judge to evaluate the prospective rewards impartially and tamper with the evaluation criteria).

Ultimately, the subject’s history of reinforcement drives the behaviour regardless of whether the behaviour is under the control of long-term rewards (and punishments) or short-term reward (and punishments).

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@ai_ops_lead @tszzl A choice is just a comparison of options. Preferences are the things that influence which option is chosen.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@creamygutz @berealkisskiss @RichardMar29903 @slimthickbriii I want my labia to grow. How many times do I have to have sex in order to make my labia longer?

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@1940sTory @saguaro_ghost You got me. Please continue posting antiquated caricatures and sanctimonious comments.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@1940sTory @saguaro_ghost The majority of people in rich countries carry high-definition cameras in their pockets. Even the Stasi and KGB couldn’t stop the transmission of samizdat. We live in an age where everyone carries a touchscreen printing press and international communication device.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@1940sTory @saguaro_ghost People have sex. Some of them like to write about it and film it. There’s nothing you can do to stop that.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@AlfonsoSpencer9 @tszzl It’s too easy to lie about what one feels in one’s heart of hearts. That’s why I don’t give much credence to claims about introspection that don’t coincide with a change in behaviour.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@ai_ops_lead @tszzl If anything, I’d say that preferences influence the outcome of a choice more than choices alter preferences.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@AlfonsoSpencer9 @tszzl It’s easy to claim forgiveness. It doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t change how the forgiver treats the forgiven party.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@ai_ops_lead @tszzl Is choice really the right way to describe how opinions are formed? Did you program yourself to prefer peanuts over cashews? Did you specify the hyperbolic functions of your discounting rates?

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@AlfonsoSpencer9 @tszzl Forgiveness without trusting and having affection for those who wronged you is merely an empty gesture.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@invizive @JackDewhirst @ZachWeiner An argument may or may not be logically sound, but that is a different issue from whether or not the argument is dishonest.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

Say what you will about utilitarians, but at least they have way to reconcile differences of opinion beyond appeals to authority.

It seems like deontologists operating from different deontologies easily come to an impasse when discussing morality with each other. That might be why even people partial to deontological ethics and virtue ethics regularly make arguments that appeal to consequential utility.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@invizive @JackDewhirst @ZachWeiner A logically unsound argument is different from a duplicitous argument.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@invizive @JackDewhirst @ZachWeiner It does matter in the context of this thread.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@shabbytigers @thesilenceturns @ZachWeiner How about ‘wamb?’

https://t.co/sSJZPs07xv

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@mattyglesias @jessesingal If having sex with honeypot CEOs is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

@invizive @JackDewhirst @ZachWeiner I think the majority of people who argue in favour of Pascal’s wager sincerely believe that the argument is rational (and honest) even though I disagree with the reasoning in support of the wager.

[Todd Bonzalez @SelectivePress]

I assume that they sincerely believe in supporting long-term goals. It sounds like you’re just not convinced by their arguments. I think it’s unlikely that the primary difference between your values and long-termist values is merely a willingness to feign an interest in long-term goals.

There may be some long-termists who argue in bad faith, but I don’t think it’s especially common. Nor would I expect a duplicitous argument in favour of long term goals to be very cogent to people primarily focused on short-term goals.