In the pre-LLM era, it seemed more likely (compared to now) that there was an algorithmically simple core of general intelligence, rather than intelligence being a complex aggregation of skills. If you’re operating under the assumption that general intelligence has a simple algorithmic structure, decision theory is an obvious place to search for it. So the early focus on decision theory wasn’t random.
In the pre-LLM era, it seemed more likely (compared to now) that there was an algorithmically simple core of general intelligence, rather than intelligence being a complex aggregation of skills. If you’re operating under the assumption that general intelligence has a simple algorithmic structure, decision theory is an obvious place to search for it. So the early focus on decision theory wasn’t random.