thomblake comments on Problematic Problems for TDT - Less Wrong

36 Post author: drnickbone 29 May 2012 03:41PM

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Comment author: ciphergoth 23 May 2012 10:37:18AM 11 points [-]

BTW, general question about decision theory. There appears to have been an academic study of decision theory for over a century, and causal and evidential decision theory were set out in 1981. Newcomb's paradox was set out in 1969. Yet it seems as though no-one thought to explore the space beyond these two decision theories until Eliezer proposed TDT, and it seems as if there is a 100% disconnect between the community exploring new theories (which is centered around LW) and the academic decision theory community. This seems really, really odd - what's going on?

Comment author: thomblake 23 May 2012 01:47:36PM 3 points [-]

It should be noted that Newcomb's problem was considered interesting in Philosophy in 1969, but decision theories were studied more in other fields - so there's a disconnect between the sorts of people who usually study formal decision theories and that sort of problem.