• We are more sad to lose things we once had than about things we’ve never had.
I’d imagine there’s a limit to the amount of information that humans are born with (today). On the other hand, I think there are edge cases—things that people can reliably be predicted to enjoy, prior to any exposure, and things people are less happy without even if they’ve never had them.
• Unexpected good fortune feels a lot more rewarding than expected good fortune.
When I go to see a movie, that I expect to be good, it’s just as good even though I expected it to be so. (There is more disappointment if it’s just okay, so pursuing this might lead to better outcomes though.)
Manipulation of attention to avoid pain (wireheading) will often be to the detriment of one’s life overall—pleasant in the short run, worse in the long-run.
I see this as ‘not being strategic’ - going for things that are easy, familiar, or are guaranteed to work out—a lack of exploration. I also find it harder to see the harm where minor injury is involved—it will be healed tomorrow, so distracting yourself from the pain now, or going to bed early doesn’t seem to have any obvious downsides.
I’d imagine there’s a limit to the amount of information that humans are born with (today). On the other hand, I think there are edge cases—things that people can reliably be predicted to enjoy, prior to any exposure, and things people are less happy without even if they’ve never had them.
When I go to see a movie, that I expect to be good, it’s just as good even though I expected it to be so. (There is more disappointment if it’s just okay, so pursuing this might lead to better outcomes though.)
I see this as ‘not being strategic’ - going for things that are easy, familiar, or are guaranteed to work out—a lack of exploration. I also find it harder to see the harm where minor injury is involved—it will be healed tomorrow, so distracting yourself from the pain now, or going to bed early doesn’t seem to have any obvious downsides.