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Wei_Dai comments on Stupid Questions Open Thread Round 3 - Less Wrong Discussion
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This question used to worry me a lot too, and at one point I also considered the idea that we can't "change the fundamental amount of goodness" but just choose a path through the branching worlds.
The view that's currently prevalent among LWers who study decision theory is that you should think of yourself as being able to change mathematical facts, because decisions are themselves mathematical facts and by making decisions you determine other mathematical facts via logical implication. So for example the amount of goodness in a deterministic universe like MWI, given some initial conditions, is a mathematical fact that you can change through your decisions.
Hmm, I don't think I understand that at all: how can one change a mathematical fact? Aren't mathematical facts fixed? Is there something you could point me to, which explains this?
Try Towards a New Decision Theory and Controlling Constant Programs. Also, I used the word "change" in my comment since you were asking the question in terms of "change", but perhaps a better term is "control", which is what Nesov uses.