Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on Why do theists, undergrads, and Less Wrongers favor one-boxing on Newcomb? - Less Wrong

15 Post author: CarlShulman 19 June 2013 01:55AM

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Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 20 June 2013 02:11:19AM 1 point [-]

I remark once again that Newcomb is just the unfortunately contrived entry point into Prisoner's Dilemma, Parfit's Hitchhiker, blackmail, and voting, which are all "Newcomblike problems".

Comment author: shminux 20 June 2013 05:25:16PM *  3 points [-]

Oh, and Parfit's Hitchhiker highlights that the concept of honor is a layman's version of reflective consistency: you tell the driver that you are a (wo)man of your word, because you truly are, for decision-theoretical reasons, as well as because you were brought up this way.

Comment author: lavalamp 21 June 2013 09:40:30PM 1 point [-]

So, my hypothesis predicts that theists will not do better on "Newcomblike problems" not involving deities.

Comment author: shminux 20 June 2013 04:49:36PM *  -1 points [-]

I've always had trouble with this part. I went through the reasoning that Newcomb is two PDs side by side, but this side-by-sideness seems to kill the essential part of PD, its unpredictability. Newcomb is perfectly deterministic, whereas in PD you depend on what the other party will do and often hope that they are reflectively consistent. The one-shot counterfactual mugging is again different from one-shot PD, even if one is reflectively consistent.