fractalman comments on Possibility and Could-ness - Less Wrong

34 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 14 June 2008 04:38AM

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Comment author: fractalman 30 May 2013 06:01:00AM 0 points [-]

"I know what it means for you to rescue a toddler from the orphanage. What does it mean for you to could-have-not done it? Can you describe the corresponding state of the world without "could", "possible", "choose", "free", "will", "decide", "can", "able", or "alternative"" ...

Instantiate meta verse, what most people refer to as a multiverse. Contain at least two copies of our universe at the relevant point in time. in one copy, ensure child is rescued. In the other, ensure child is not rescued. resume run; observe results.

Flaw: lack of computational resources.
.... alternatively: 1. Flip purely quantum coin. heads: rescue child. tails: do not rescue child. 2. Find a flaw in the matrix that lets you communicate with parallel histories. -and yes, I see the blatant flaw in how # 2 is most likely impossible.

I just figured I could manage to forego the first iteration of taboo words.