This is a special post for quick takes by Tomás B.. Only they can create top-level comments. Comments here also appear on the Quick Takes page and All Posts page.
Suppose you're a billionaire and you want to get married. However, gold-digging people of the gender you prefer target you. They are good enough at faking attraction that you cannot tell. How should you act? One idea I had was this: pick 10000 random people and then select from there. You will at the very least likely remove most of the world-class dissemblers. Armstrong proposes a similar scheme in Siren worlds and the perils of over-optimised search.
Are there 300 different dimensions that make people attractive to you and are as weighty as money? Selecting 10,000 random people will not just filter the world-class dissemblers, it will filter the world-class in general.
This applies to many celebrities and wealthy people worth much less than a billion. Other common strategies:
* Only date independently wealthy or near-equally-famous people
* Get some of the value of marriage in less-committed ways than marriage. Don't marry, just date and have some kids.
* Accept the risk of financial motivation for your partner. It's quite possible that they love you deeply, AND want the lifestyle you can give them and your shared kids.
* Have trusted friends and family who are good judges of character (note: this is a similar problem to create, but many have it via luck). Incorporate their feedback about a potential partner into your judgement.
Really, EVERYONE faces this problem if they choose a monogamous long-term partner. What are they really after? Will they remain loving and supportive aside from the support they expect from me? Wealthy and celebrities face it more legibly and directly, but not uniquely.
5Algon
Tangentially relevant: Armstrong has a post on some general features that make it likely that Goodharting will be a problem. Conversely, he gives some features that make it less likely you'll wind up Goodharting in your search.
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