I think that’s intended. Trying to achieve greater wealth generally involves much higher risk, and even if it offers a higher expected value in terms of money, the diminishing utility of wealth probably makes the expected utility of, say, creating a startup, lower than just pursuing a middle-class career that matches your skills.
Well, Wei Dai said “maximize the expected value of some function of your income”; which career achieves that will depend on whether the function is log(x), x, H(x - $40,000/year), exp(x/($1M/year)), or what.
I think that’s intended. Trying to achieve greater wealth generally involves much higher risk, and even if it offers a higher expected value in terms of money, the diminishing utility of wealth probably makes the expected utility of, say, creating a startup, lower than just pursuing a middle-class career that matches your skills.
Well, Wei Dai said “maximize the expected value of some function of your income”; which career achieves that will depend on whether the function is log(x), x, H(x - $40,000/year), exp(x/($1M/year)), or what.
I assumed it was referring to (part of) Wei Dai’s utility function. What other functions could there be a point in applying?
Yes, but we don’t know what Wei Dai’s utility function is, and the answer to his question may depend on that.