[extropy-chat] examples of rational irrationalism

[The Avantguardian]

--- Lúcio de Souza Coelho <lucioc at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 12/7/06, The Avantguardian
> <avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> (...)
> > Oh lets see . . . natural selection, economics,
> game
> > theory, Utility(Something) >= Utility(null set).
> Such
> > nonsense is the abyss that Neitzsche warned us
> about.
> (...)
> 
> How do you define "utility" in a way that it is
> intrinsically
> rational? "Utility" in the context of natural
> selection for instance
> is "stay alive enough time to reproduce". But does
> that make this
> utility definition intrinsically "rational" by any
> means?

Well if you are engaged in a game (survival, stock
market, tennis, parcheesi, it's all the same), the
utility of any particular "move" is generally your
"score".

A rational player is defined as a player who makes
moves to raise ones score and draw closer to winning
the game. To make moves intent on lowering ones score
and losing the game is thereby irrational, UNLESS the
game is a subgame of larger game and in the larger
game one can raise ones "score" by "losing" the
subgame.

I see no other "larger game" for the deathists except
for the imaginary one where Allah or Gaia pat them on
the head after they die. 
 
> As I mentioned earlier, I find it difficult to see
> rationality by
> itself as a source of supergoals (or Utility()...).

Well I think it's seldomly the source of supergoals.
But once those supergoals get established, it is
certainly the way to get there.


Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Phillip K. Dick


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Have a burning question?  
Go to www.Answers.yahoo.com and get answers from real people who know.