I should have been clear there, I wasn’t trying to imply that the descriptive utility was a claim they made. i meant that in the sense that “it fails to serve a purpose which traditional decision theories are intended for (and are useful at)” not that “it fails to serve the purpose it is designed for.”
I would argue it fails on its own terms (at least sometimes) as a normative theory (which is a stated goal for the theory given by Yudkowsky & Soares) but as you say it isn’t trying to be a descriptive theory. It not being useful as a descriptive theory is just a point of comparison of its merits against traditional models.
Edit: Also, in case it isn’t obvious, I have an economic background so my primary interest in it would be if it outperforms the uses of decision theory (both normative and descriptive) in economics.
I should have been clear there, I wasn’t trying to imply that the descriptive utility was a claim they made. i meant that in the sense that “it fails to serve a purpose which traditional decision theories are intended for (and are useful at)” not that “it fails to serve the purpose it is designed for.”
I would argue it fails on its own terms (at least sometimes) as a normative theory (which is a stated goal for the theory given by Yudkowsky & Soares) but as you say it isn’t trying to be a descriptive theory. It not being useful as a descriptive theory is just a point of comparison of its merits against traditional models.
Edit: Also, in case it isn’t obvious, I have an economic background so my primary interest in it would be if it outperforms the uses of decision theory (both normative and descriptive) in economics.