I find it quite hard to believe you couldn't do even better if you were a single mind perceiving what the ants did and controlling them (which is how you are set up in this game).
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If the separate agents all have simultaneous access to the same information ... then they cease being separate agents ... .
There's a big difference between separate agents all running in one brain (e.g., possibly humans) and separate agents in separate brains (ants).
I believe there is a significantly false assumption here: that the agents present in human minds are operating with "simultaneous" (or otherwise) access to "the same information".
To me, that reads as if lavalamp doesn't think humans actually are a "unified mind", though. It's the program written in the context of the game that acts as a single agent by processing the same information with pseudo-'simultaneity'.
It's the program written in the context of the game that acts as a single agent by processing the same information with pseudo-'simultaneity'.
I believe I understand what you are saying here. I just don't think it fairly describes what lavalamp was saying.
My reading of that passage is that his assertion was that humans, by having separate agents all running "in one brain", cease being separate agents as a result of "having simultaneous access to the same information".
EDIT: Okay, now I find myself confused. By the course of the dialog...
Aichallenge.org has started their third AI contest this year: Ants.
I mentioned this in the open thread, and there was a discussion about possibly making one or more "official" LessWrong teams. D_Alex has offered a motivational prize. If this interests you, please discuss in the comments!