Silas comments on The Truly Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma - Less Wrong

18 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 04 September 2008 06:00PM

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Comment author: Silas 04 September 2008 06:21:13PM 10 points [-]

Wait wait wait: Isn't this the same kind of argument as in the dilemma about "We will execute you within the next week on a day that you won't expect"? (Sorry, don't know the name for that puzzle.) In that one, the argument goes that if it's the last day of the week, the prisoner knows that's the last chance they have to execute him, so he'll expect it, so it can't be that day. But then, if it's the next-to-last day, he knows they can't execute him on the last day, so they have to execute him on that next-to-last day. But then he expects it! And so on.

So, after concluding they can't execute him, they execute him on Wednesay. "Wait! But I concluded you can't do this!" "Good, then you didn't expect it. Problem solved."

Just as in that problem, you can't stably have an "(un)expected execution day", you can't have an "expected future irrelevance" in this one.

Do I get a prize? No? Okay then.