notsonewuser comments on The Ultimate Newcomb's Problem - Less Wrong

18 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 10 September 2013 02:03AM

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Comment author: bsterrett 10 September 2013 08:18:05PM *  1 point [-]

I think this line of reasoning relies on the Number Lottery's choice of number being conditional on Omega's evaluation of you as a one-boxer or two-boxer. The problem description (at the time of this writing) states that the Number Lottery's number is randomly chosen, so it seems like more of a distraction than something you should try to manipulate for a better payoff.

Edit: Distraction is definitely the wrong word. As ShardPhoenix indicated, you might be able to get a better payoff by making your one-box / two-box decision depend on the outcome of the Number Lottery.

Comment author: notsonewuser 11 September 2013 09:15:02PM 0 points [-]

evaluation of you as a one-boxer or two-boxer

Those are not the only precommitments one can make for this type of situation.

Comment author: bsterrett 11 September 2013 10:38:34PM 1 point [-]

Of course! I meant to say that Richard's line of thought was mistaken because it didn't take into account the (default) independence of Omega's choice of number and the Number Lottery's choice of number. Suggesting that there are only two possible strategies for approaching this problem was a consequence of my poor wording.