I think this perspective of “if I can’t affect p(doom) enough, let me generate hedons instead” makes a lot of sense. But as someone who has spent way way way more time than his fair share on video games (and who still spends a lot of time on them), I want to make the somewhat nitpicky point that video games are not necessarily the hedon-optimizing option.
Here’s an alternative frame, and one into which I also fall from time to time: Suppose that, for whatever reason (be it due to x-risk; notoriously poor feedback loops in AI alignment research; or, in my case, past bouts of depression or illness), the fate of the world / your future / your health / your project / your day seems hard to affect and thus outside of your control (external locus of control). Then video games counteract that by giving you control (internal locus of control). Maybe I can’t affect <project>, but I can complete quests or puzzles in games. Games are designed to allow for continuous progress, after all.
Or as Dr. K of HealthyGamer puts it, video games “short-circuit the reward circuit” (paraphrased). Roughly, the brain rewards us for doing stuff by generating feelings of accomplishment or triumph. But doing stuff in the real world is hard, and in video games it’s easy. So why do the former? In this sense, video games are a low-level form of wireheading.
Also, excessive gaming can result in anhedonia, which seems like a problem for the goal of maximizing hedons.
To tie this pack to the start: if the goal is to maximize hedons, activities other than gaming may be much better for this purpose (<-> goal factoring). If the goal is instead to (re)gain a sense of control, then video games seem more optimized for that.
I think this perspective of “if I can’t affect p(doom) enough, let me generate hedons instead” makes a lot of sense. But as someone who has spent way way way more time than his fair share on video games (and who still spends a lot of time on them), I want to make the somewhat nitpicky point that video games are not necessarily the hedon-optimizing option.
Here’s an alternative frame, and one into which I also fall from time to time: Suppose that, for whatever reason (be it due to x-risk; notoriously poor feedback loops in AI alignment research; or, in my case, past bouts of depression or illness), the fate of the world / your future / your health / your project / your day seems hard to affect and thus outside of your control (external locus of control). Then video games counteract that by giving you control (internal locus of control). Maybe I can’t affect <project>, but I can complete quests or puzzles in games. Games are designed to allow for continuous progress, after all.
Or as Dr. K of HealthyGamer puts it, video games “short-circuit the reward circuit” (paraphrased). Roughly, the brain rewards us for doing stuff by generating feelings of accomplishment or triumph. But doing stuff in the real world is hard, and in video games it’s easy. So why do the former? In this sense, video games are a low-level form of wireheading.
Also, excessive gaming can result in anhedonia, which seems like a problem for the goal of maximizing hedons.
To tie this pack to the start: if the goal is to maximize hedons, activities other than gaming may be much better for this purpose (<-> goal factoring). If the goal is instead to (re)gain a sense of control, then video games seem more optimized for that.