tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post4646931505089900434..comments2024-03-28T13:23:50.623-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: Some offersAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-72541690010684723462009-01-27T19:50:00.000-06:002009-01-27T19:50:00.000-06:00Ah! Much better. To answer your question, I'd go ...Ah! Much better. To answer your question, I'd go with the latter: these sound very much like questions an experimental economist might ask, and typically people answer those questions "wrongly," even when their hypothetical risk is much less. (For instance: would you rather have $5 now or $100 a year from now? Way too many people take the quick money.) I say "wrongly" because, in a sense, this is the right response. From a basic evolutionary perspective, individuals who prefer to take the safer-seeming choice (in this case, refusing the offers) will tend to survive longer than those who don't, at least, so long as the safer-seeming choice really is safer. If this is indeed the source of our apprehension in these cases (and I think that it is), it makes sense that the safer-seeming choice is typically only the actually safer choice in non-esoteric questions - by forming societies complex enough to support esoteric scenarios like these, we'd sufficiently insulated ourselves from the environmental pressures that would make them good evolutionary guides. (In other words, in societies, making the risky choice in esoteric matters tends to be way less harmful to one's reproductive chances than making the risky choice outside of societies, so we never had a real chance to evolve the proper intuitive response to esoteric questions.)Elihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03543293341085230171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-77340638655402022892009-01-27T18:10:00.000-06:002009-01-27T18:10:00.000-06:00Hmm. I could definitely use that dollar...Hmm. I could definitely use that dollar...Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07760732528070189410noreply@blogger.com