
Complex Behavior from Simple SubAgents - mordymoop
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3pKXC62C98EgCeZc4/complex-behavior-from-simple-sub-agents
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miemo
I did not enjoy this read; drawing conclusions about humans from simple
systems is most often as true as an exercise in astrology.

>I don't personally think humans explicitly look ahead very often. We give
ourselves credit as the "thinking, planning animal", but we generally just
make whichever choice corresponds to the highest expected valence in the
current moment.

Really? Do you clean your teeth? work a job you hate? pay your taxes?

~~~
0_gravitas
A fair point, but I do think theres a limit- from the few years I spent in
retail I came to the realization that a majority of people have near zero
critical-thinking or problem solving skills.

For instance, we had these kiosks where someone could sit down and order
printouts of photos on their phone. There is a touch screen with _very_ clear
instructions: "touch here to begin", "plug in your phone with the appropriate
usb cable below", "tap the button that has the photo choice you want". Without
fail, I would say near 80% of customers would sit down, look at the screen,
and call an employee over asking "what do I do?" for every step, even if
they've come in before and been shown already. It was mostly older folk, but
there was still a good portion that were younger.

