Dorikka comments on You're in Newcomb's Box - Less Wrong

40 Post author: HonoreDB 05 February 2011 08:46PM

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Comment author: Dorikka 02 February 2011 12:12:42AM 0 points [-]

Er...right. I accidentally filled in the first bit with the actual Newcomb's Problem. (In this post, I find the word 'Newcomb' in the title to be misleading unless there's some Newcomb-like aspect that I'm missing.)

So, upon rereading the first bit, I think that two-boxing is definitely optimal in this case. The Prometheus part seems irrelevant. Powerful being A created you to do Z does not mean that you will somehow cease to exist if you do Y instead of Z, nor does it have any impact on your decision unless you also know that the powerful being is benevolent with regard to your utility function.

Comment author: HonoreDB 02 February 2011 01:38:45AM *  1 point [-]

(In this post, I find the word 'Newcomb' in the title to be misleading unless there's some Newcomb-like aspect that I'm missing.)

Whether or not it's truly Newcomb-like is the question. The way I'm suggesting you see it is that in addition to the $100, you are in Box B if and only if you one-box. Otherwise, you're nowhere. You don't cease to exist, you cease to have ever existed (which might be better or worse than dying, but certainly sounds bad).

Comment author: Dorikka 02 February 2011 02:14:00AM 2 points [-]

I don't see any evidence for that hypothesis in the scenario itself. Could you explain why one would draw that from the narrative?

Comment author: Eneasz 02 February 2011 10:47:08PM 0 points [-]