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abigailgem comments on Formalizing Newcomb's - Less Wrong
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I find Newcomb's problem interesting. Omega predicts accurately. This is impossible in my experience. We are not discussing a problem any of us is likely to face. However I still find discussing counter-factuals interesting.
I do not think that is the case. Whether Omega predicts by time travel, mind-reading, or even removes money from the box by teleportation when it observes the subject taking two boxes is a separate discussion, considering laws of physics, SF, whatever. This might be quite fun, but is wholly separate from discussing Newcomb's problem itself.
I think an ability to discuss a counter-factual without having some way of relating it to Reality is a useful skill. Playing around with the problem, I think, has increased my understanding of the real World. Then the "need" to explain how a real Omega might do what Omega is described as being able to do just gets in the way.
In what ways?
Most insights that arise from Newcomb's problem seem to me to be either phony or derivable from simpler problems that don't feature omniscient entities. Admittedly you can meditate on the logical loop forever in the illusion that it increases your understanding. Maybe the unexpected hanging paradox will help snap you out? That paradox also allows perpetual meditation until we sit down and demystify the word "surprise" into mathematical logic, exposing the problem statement as self-referential and self-contradictory. In Newcomb's problem we might just need to similarly demystify the word "predict", as I've been trying to.