Formulation of the . . . Towards Explanation Why Attitude to Good Towards Explanation . . . Towards Explanation . . . People Is Not Always Commonsense . . . Positive: Explanation Based Home Page on Decision Theory Title Page ◭◭ ◮◮ Ryan Jones, Perla De La O, Sebastian Gonzalez ◭ ◮ Jorge Huerta, Manuel Mu˜ noz, and Vladik Kreinovich University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA Page 1 of 6 rjones3@miners.utep.edu, pldelaoreyes@miners.utep.edu, sgonzalez53@miners.utep.edu, jhuerta6@miners.utep.edu, Go Back mmunoz38@miners.utep.edu, vladik@utep.edu Full Screen Close Quit
1. Formulation of the Problem Formulation of the . . . Towards Explanation • There are very good people in this world. Towards Explanation . . . • They empathize with others, they actively help others. Towards Explanation . . . Commonsense . . . • One would expect that other people would appreciate them, cherish them. Home Page • In other words, that, our attitude towards these good Title Page people would be positive. ◭◭ ◮◮ • However, in real life, the attitude is often neutral or ◭ ◮ even negative. Page 2 of 6 • Why? Is there a rational explanation for this? Go Back Full Screen Close Quit
2. Towards Explanation Formulation of the . . . Towards Explanation • Each person’s happiness is determined Towards Explanation . . . – not only by this person’s satisfaction with life, Towards Explanation . . . – but also by other people’s happiness. Commonsense . . . • It is difficult to enjoy good life if many people around Home Page you suffer. Title Page • Let us denote the Person i ’s satisfaction with life by s i , ◭◭ ◮◮ and this person’s level of happiness by h i . ◭ ◮ • Then, h i depends on s i and on h j for all other j . Page 3 of 6 • In the first approximation, we can assume that this Go Back dependence is linear: h i = s i + � a ij · h j . j � = i Full Screen • A very good person v is very happy when others are Close happy and suffers when others suffer: a vj ≈ 1 for all j . Quit
3. Towards Explanation (cont-d) Formulation of the . . . Towards Explanation • Let us consider a simplified model in which: Towards Explanation . . . – everyone’s satisfaction is the same s i = s > 0, Towards Explanation . . . – everyone’s attitude to v is the same: a jv = a , and Commonsense . . . – we ignore attitude towards everyone else. Home Page • Then, h v = s + n · h j , where n is the number of people Title Page except for v , and h j = s + a · h v . ◭◭ ◮◮ • Substituting the above expression for h v into this for- ◭ ◮ mula, we get h j = s + a · s + a · n · h j ; so: Page 4 of 6 h j = a + a · s 1 − a · n. Go Back Full Screen • If a is reasonably positive, i.e., if a > 1 /n , then h j < 0 – i.e., everyone will be unhappy. Close • Thus, the desire to be happy implies that a < 1 /n . Quit
4. Towards Explanation (cont-d) Formulation of the . . . Towards Explanation • Reminder: the desire to be happy implies that a < 1 /n . Towards Explanation . . . • With n in billions, this explains why on average, the Towards Explanation . . . attitude should be either neutral or negative. Commonsense . . . Home Page Title Page ◭◭ ◮◮ ◭ ◮ Page 5 of 6 Go Back Full Screen Close Quit
5. Commonsense Explanation Formulation of the . . . Towards Explanation • From the common sense viewpoint, the above mathe- Towards Explanation . . . matics makes perfect sense. Towards Explanation . . . • A very good person is unhappy if other people are un- Commonsense . . . happy. Home Page • If we empathize with this person, we become unhappy too. Title Page ◭◭ ◮◮ • Since people do not want to be unhappy, they prefer ◭ ◮ – to ignore others’ unhappiness (at best), – or even blame them for their own unhappiness. Page 6 of 6 Go Back Full Screen Close Quit
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