incogn comments on Decision Theory FAQ - Less Wrong

52 Post author: lukeprog 28 February 2013 02:15PM

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Comment author: incogn 14 March 2013 11:42:10AM 1 point [-]

Excellent.

I think laughably stupid is a bit too harsh. As I understand thing, confusion regarding Newcomb's leads to new decision theories, which in turn makes the smoking lesion problem interesting because the new decision theories introduce new, critical weaknesses in order to solve Newcomb's problem. I do, agree, however, that the smoking lesion problem is trivial if you stick to a sensible, CDT model.

Comment author: private_messaging 14 March 2013 02:58:19PM *  1 point [-]

The problems with EDT are quite ordinary... its looking for good news, and also, it is kind of under-specified (e.g. some argue it'd two-box in Newcomb's after learning physics). A decision theory can not be disqualified for giving 'wrong' answer in the hypothetical that 2*2=5 or in the hypothetical that a or not a = false, or in the hypothetical that the decision is simultaneously controlled by the decision theory, and set, without involvement of the decision theory, by the lesion (and a random process if correlation is imperfect).