That’s diferent, though. The hypothetical I was objecting to was humans having unbounded utility functions. I think that idea is a case of making things up.
FWIW, I stand by the idea that instrumental discounting means that debating ultimate discounting vs a lack of ultimate discounting mostly represents a storm in a teacup. In practice, all agents do instrumental discounting—since the future is uncertain and difficult to directly influence.
Any debate here should really be over whether ultimate discounting on a timescale of decades is desirable—or not.
That’s diferent, though. The hypothetical I was objecting to was humans having unbounded utility functions. I think that idea is a case of making things up.
FWIW, I stand by the idea that instrumental discounting means that debating ultimate discounting vs a lack of ultimate discounting mostly represents a storm in a teacup. In practice, all agents do instrumental discounting—since the future is uncertain and difficult to directly influence.
Any debate here should really be over whether ultimate discounting on a timescale of decades is desirable—or not.