If the utility function is self-referential at any point, then implementing it will necessarily involve choosing (portions of) it.
Tentatively disagree. With the ‘necessarily’ part. A broad class of self references will be such that there is only one unique solution to the utility function that fits. In such cases the process would be one of mathematical analysis or of calculation. It isn’t out of the question that the letter ‘e’ would appear in a written transcription of some of them.
If the utility function is self-referential at any point, then implementing it will necessarily involve choosing (portions of) it.
Tentatively disagree. With the ‘necessarily’ part. A broad class of self references will be such that there is only one unique solution to the utility function that fits. In such cases the process would be one of mathematical analysis or of calculation. It isn’t out of the question that the letter ‘e’ would appear in a written transcription of some of them.