Abstract
We tell a story where an agent who chooses in such a way as to make the greatest possible profit on each of an infinite series of transactions ends up worse off than an agent who chooses in such a way as to make the least possible profit on each transaction. That is, contrary to what one might suppose, it is not necessarily rational always to choose the option that yields the greatest possible profit on each transaction.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Earman, J. (1992), Bayes or Bust. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Earman, J. and Norton, J. (1996), Infinite pains: the trouble with supertasks in A. Morton and S. Stich (eds.), Benacerraf and His Critics. Cambridge: Blackwell.
Hogarth, M. (1992), Does general relativity allow an observer to view an eternity in a finite time? Foundations of Physics Letters5(2): 173-181.
Ross, S. (1988), A First Course on Probability, 3rd edn. New York: Macmillan.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barrett, J.A., Arntzenius, F. An Infinite Decision Puzzle. Theory and Decision 46, 101–103 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005094023022
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005094023022