And setting A=B=C is deciding not to allocate the time to figure out their values (hard to decide → similar).
This sentence seems to pre-suppose that they have “values”, which is in fact what’s at issue (since numerical values ensure transitivity). So I would not want to put it that way. Rather, cutting the loop saves time without apparently losing anything (although to an agent stuck in a loop, it might not seem that way).
Usually, such a thing indicates there are multiple things you want
I think this is actually not usually an intransitive loop, but rather, high standards for an answer (you want to satisfy ALL the desiderata). When making decisions, people learn an “acceptable decision quality” based on what is usually achievable. That becomes a threshold for satisficing. This is usually good for efficiency; once you achieve the threshold, you know returns for thinking about this decision are rapidly diminishing, so you can probably move on.
However, in the rare situations where the threshold is simply not achievable, this causes you to waste a lot of time searching (because your termination condition is not yet met!).
This sentence seems to pre-suppose that they have “values”, which is in fact what’s at issue (since numerical values ensure transitivity). So I would not want to put it that way. Rather, cutting the loop saves time without apparently losing anything (although to an agent stuck in a loop, it might not seem that way).
I think this is actually not usually an intransitive loop, but rather, high standards for an answer (you want to satisfy ALL the desiderata). When making decisions, people learn an “acceptable decision quality” based on what is usually achievable. That becomes a threshold for satisficing. This is usually good for efficiency; once you achieve the threshold, you know returns for thinking about this decision are rapidly diminishing, so you can probably move on.
However, in the rare situations where the threshold is simply not achievable, this causes you to waste a lot of time searching (because your termination condition is not yet met!).