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RichardKennaway comments on Is Omega Impossible? Can we even ask? - Less Wrong Discussion

-8 Post author: mwengler 24 October 2012 02:47PM

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Comment author: RichardKennaway 25 October 2012 04:12:49PM 1 point [-]

Omega problems are not posed for the purpose of being prepared to deal with Omega should you, or an FAI, ever meet him. They are idealised test problems, thought experiments, for probing the strengths and weaknesses of formalised decision theories, especially regarding issues of self-reference and agents modelling themselves and each other. Some of these problems may turn out to be ill-posed, but you have to look at each such problem to decide whether it makes sense or not.