While it’s true that preferences are not immutable, the things that change them are not usually debate. Sure, some people can be made to believe that their preferences are inconsistent, but then they will only make the smallest correction needed to fix the problem. Also, sometimes debate will make someone claim to have changed their preferences, just to that they can avoid social pressures (e.g. “how dare you not care about starving children!”), but this may not reflect in their actions.
Regardless, my claim is that many (or most) people discount a lot, and that this would be stable under reflection. Otherwise we’d see more charity, more investment and more work on e.g. climate change.
While it’s true that preferences are not immutable, the things that change them are not usually debate. Sure, some people can be made to believe that their preferences are inconsistent, but then they will only make the smallest correction needed to fix the problem. Also, sometimes debate will make someone claim to have changed their preferences, just to that they can avoid social pressures (e.g. “how dare you not care about starving children!”), but this may not reflect in their actions.
Regardless, my claim is that many (or most) people discount a lot, and that this would be stable under reflection. Otherwise we’d see more charity, more investment and more work on e.g. climate change.