woodchopper comments on Newcomb versus dust specks - Less Wrong

-1 Post author: ike 12 May 2016 03:02AM

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Comment author: woodchopper 17 May 2016 08:59:17AM *  1 point [-]

This doesn't seem very coherent.

As it happens, a perfect and truthful predictor has declared that you will choose torture iff you are alone.

OK. Then that means if I choose torture, I am alone. If I choose the dust specks, I am not alone. I don't want to be tortured, and don't really care about 3 ^^^ 3 people getting dust specks in their eyes, even if they're all 'perfect copies of me'. I am not a perfect utilitarian.

A perfect utilitarian would choose torture though, because one person getting tortured is technically not as bad from a utilitarian point of view as 3 ^^^ 3 dust specks in eyes.