Armok_GoB comments on Probability and radical uncertainty - Less Wrong

11 Post author: David_Chapman 23 November 2013 10:34PM

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Comment author: Armok_GoB 24 November 2013 04:14:12PM *  1 point [-]

I throw the box into the corner of the room with a high pitched scream of terror. Then I run away to try to find thermite.

Edit: then I throw the ashes into a black hole, and trigger a True Vacuum colapse just in case.

Comment author: ygert 25 November 2013 04:08:28PM 2 points [-]

This raises the very important point that the overwhelming majority of worldstates are bad, bad, bad, and so when presented with a box that could give literally any outcome, running might be a good idea. (Metaphorically, that is. I doubt it would do you much good.)

Comment author: Zvi 24 November 2013 08:09:27PM 1 point [-]

I think backing away slowly and quietly is the better play. The box might feast off your screams or sense your fear.

Comment author: ialdabaoth 25 November 2013 04:46:17PM *  4 points [-]

The box might feast off your screams or sense your fear.

Then again, screams might hurt it. That's the problem with true radical uncertainty - if you're sufficiently uncertain that you can't even conjecture about meta-probabilities, how do you know if ANY action (or lack of action) might have a net positive or negative outcome?