Saying that people would be better off taking more risks under a particular model elides the question of why they don’t take those risks to begin with, and how we can change that. If its desirable to do so.
The psychological impact of a loss of x is generally higher than that of a corresponding gain. So if I know I will feel worse from losing $10 than I will feel good from gaining $100, then its entirely rational in my utility function to not take a 50⁄50 bet between those two outcomes. Maybe I would be better off overall if I didn’t over weight losses, but utility functions aren’t easily rewritable by humans. The closest you could come is some kind of exposure therapy to losses.
Manipulating one’s own utility functions is supposed to be hard? That would be news to me. I’ve never found it problematic, once I’ve either learned new information that led me to update it, or become aware of a pre-existing inconsistency. For example, loss aversion is something I probably had until it was pointed out to me, but not after that. The only exception to this would be things one easily attaches to emotionally, such as pets, to which I’ve learned to simply not allow myself to become so attached. Otherwise, could you please explain why you make the claim that such traits are not readily editable in a more general capacity?
Saying that people would be better off taking more risks under a particular model elides the question of why they don’t take those risks to begin with, and how we can change that. If its desirable to do so.
The psychological impact of a loss of x is generally higher than that of a corresponding gain. So if I know I will feel worse from losing $10 than I will feel good from gaining $100, then its entirely rational in my utility function to not take a 50⁄50 bet between those two outcomes. Maybe I would be better off overall if I didn’t over weight losses, but utility functions aren’t easily rewritable by humans. The closest you could come is some kind of exposure therapy to losses.
Manipulating one’s own utility functions is supposed to be hard? That would be news to me. I’ve never found it problematic, once I’ve either learned new information that led me to update it, or become aware of a pre-existing inconsistency. For example, loss aversion is something I probably had until it was pointed out to me, but not after that. The only exception to this would be things one easily attaches to emotionally, such as pets, to which I’ve learned to simply not allow myself to become so attached. Otherwise, could you please explain why you make the claim that such traits are not readily editable in a more general capacity?