Desirism Book - Part 0019 - Incentives and Deterrence

In my last post, I introduced Bett - a person with no desires - into a world that originally contained Alph with his one desire to gather stones. I also gave Alph the ability to give Bett a desire - either a desire to gather stones or a desire to scatter stones.

I then claimed that Alph's one desire to gather stones in a world with a limited number of stones to gather gave him a reason to cause Bett to scatter stones. Bett's stone scattering gives Alph the opportunity to spend all of his time keeping true the proposition, "I am gathering stones."

In this post, I wish to give Alph a new set of ways to influence Bett's behavior - incentives and deterrence.

In order to have the option to use incentives and deterrence, Bett first has to have some desires of his own.

Alph would be providing Bett with an incentive by offering to fulfill one of Bett's desires if Bett would, in return, perform some action that fulfills one of Alph's desires.

So, for example, let us give Bett a desire to eat chocolate and give Alph control over a supply of chocolate. Alph can then say to Bett, "If you scatter some stones, I will give you some chocolate." Bett's motivating reason to make the proposition, "I am eating chocolate" true becomes a motivating reason to scatter stones.

Similarly, Alph would be providing Bett with a deterrence by threatening to thwart one of Bett's desires unless Bett performs some action that fulfills one of Alph's desires.

In this case, let's give Bett an aversion to pain or, in other words, a "desire that I not be in pain." Alph threatens to make true the proposition, "Bett is in pain" unless Bett scatters stones. Bett's reason to avoid a state in which he is in pain becomes a reason to scatter stones.

These exchanges work the other way as well. Bett can refuse to scatter stones unless Alph gives him some chocolate, or unless Alph refrains from any action that causes Bett to experience pain.

Even if it is the case that the only desire Bett has is a desire to scatter stones, this can be used to create incentives or deterrence if Alph ever comes up with a reason to do so. Assuming that Alph controls the pile of stones that has been gathered, he can tell Bett, "I will give you access to these stones to gather if you will do something for me." Similarly, assuming Bett already has access to the stones, Alph can threaten to take away Bett's access unless Bett performs some action that will fulfill one of Alph's desires.

There is no morality in this system. These tools of incentives and deterrence belong to the realms of law and economics, not morality. They are the instruments of coercion or of trade. However, without morality it is not even possible to determine which is which.

We must also take care at this point not to sneak any morality into our understanding of this relationship. Alph's control of the pile of stones he gathered does not depend on any type of natural right which Bett feels a reason to respect. It can only mean a physical ability to keep Bett away from the gathered stones. Similarly, Bett's desire to scatter stones would give him a reason to kill Alph if he could, and by doing so he can get to the gathered stones that Alph is protecting.

Still, in the case where Alph has a desire to gather stones and Bett has a desire to scatter stones, they have no reason to engage in these types of exercises. It is enough for each to leave the other alone, leaving Alph to gather the stones that Bett will scatter, and leaving Bett to scatter the stones that Alph will gather.