rwallace comments on A problem with Timeless Decision Theory (TDT) - Less Wrong

36 Post author: Gary_Drescher 04 February 2010 06:47PM

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Comment author: rwallace 05 February 2010 04:16:13AM 0 points [-]

In the setup in question, D goes into an infinite loop (since in the general case it must call a copy of C, but because the box is transparent, C takes as input the output of D).

In Eliezer's similar red/green problem, if the simulation is fully deterministic and the initial conditions are the same, then the simulator must be lying, because he must've told the same thing to the first instance, at a time when there had been no previous copy. (If those conditions do not hold, then the solution is to just flip a coin and take your 50-50 chance.)

Are these still problems when you change them to fix the inconsistencies?

Comment author: Gary_Drescher 05 February 2010 01:31:25PM *  0 points [-]

In the setup in question, D goes into an infinite loop (since in the general case it must call a copy of C, but because the box is transparent, C takes as input the output of D).

No, because by stipulation here, D only simulates the hypothetical case in which the box contains $1M, which does not necessarily correspond to the output of D (see my earlier reply to JGWeissman:

http://lesswrong.com/lw/1qo/a_problem_with_timeless_decision_theory_tdt/1kpk).