Yes there are different ways to conceive what news is good or bad
My post tried to argue that some of them are better than others.
the news that the biggest filters lie ahead of us is surely discouraging, if useful.
But is such discouragement rational? If not, perhaps we should try to fight against it. It seems to me that we would be less discouraged if we considered our situation and decisions from what you call the God-view.
Call me stuck in ordinary decision theory, with less than universal values. I mostly seek info that will help me now make choices to assist myself and my descendants, given what I already know about us. The fact that I might have wanted to commit before the universe began to rating universes as better if they had later filters is not very relevant for what info I now will call “bad news.”
After I wrote my previous reply to you, I realized that I don’t really know why we call anything good news or bad news, so I may very well be wrong when I claimed that late great filter is not bad news, or that it’s more rational to not call it bad news.
That aside, ordinary decision theory has obvious flaws. (See here for the latest example.) Given human limitations, we may not be able to get ourselves unstuck, but we should at least recognize that it’s less than ideal to be stuck this way.
I mostly seek info that will help me now make choices to assist myself and my descendants, given what I already know about us.
The goal of UDT-style decision theories is making optimal decisions at any time, without needing to precommit in advance. Looking at the situation as if from before the beginning of time is argued to be the correct perspective from any location and state of knowledge, no matter what your values are.
My post tried to argue that some of them are better than others.
But is such discouragement rational? If not, perhaps we should try to fight against it. It seems to me that we would be less discouraged if we considered our situation and decisions from what you call the God-view.
Call me stuck in ordinary decision theory, with less than universal values. I mostly seek info that will help me now make choices to assist myself and my descendants, given what I already know about us. The fact that I might have wanted to commit before the universe began to rating universes as better if they had later filters is not very relevant for what info I now will call “bad news.”
After I wrote my previous reply to you, I realized that I don’t really know why we call anything good news or bad news, so I may very well be wrong when I claimed that late great filter is not bad news, or that it’s more rational to not call it bad news.
That aside, ordinary decision theory has obvious flaws. (See here for the latest example.) Given human limitations, we may not be able to get ourselves unstuck, but we should at least recognize that it’s less than ideal to be stuck this way.
The goal of UDT-style decision theories is making optimal decisions at any time, without needing to precommit in advance. Looking at the situation as if from before the beginning of time is argued to be the correct perspective from any location and state of knowledge, no matter what your values are.