Stuart_Armstrong comments on Unpacking the Concept of "Blackmail" - Less Wrong

25 Post author: Vladimir_Nesov 10 December 2010 12:53AM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 10 December 2010 03:47:44PM *  0 points [-]

Because in a blackmail, I do not wish the trade to happen at all.

Something has to happen, and you must choose from the options you're dealt. Maybe I don't wish to pay for my Internet connection, and would rather have the Flying Spaghetti Monster provide it to me free of charge, and also grant me $1000 as a bonus? This seems to qualify as not wishing I had to choose a provider at all. But in reality, I have to choose, and FSM is not available as an option, just as not being blackmailed is not available as an option (by assumption; the agent doesn't need to know that, only the problem statement that logically implies that).

Comment author: Stuart_Armstrong 10 December 2010 05:49:27PM 0 points [-]

I think you've answered your own question in your comment.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 10 December 2010 05:57:31PM 0 points [-]

Yes, I was not entirely straightforward in my questions and wished to elicit some clarity from others. Here, the key is the difference between observational (logical) impossibility and agent-provable impossibility.