I don't understand why Roko's Basilisk is any different from Pascal's Wager. Similarly, I don't understand why its resolution is any different than the argument from inconsistent revelations.
Pascal's Wager: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager
Argument: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_inconsistent_revelations#Mathematical_description
I would actually be surprised (really, really surprised) if many people here have not heard of these things before—so I am assuming that I'm totally missing something. Could someone fill me in?
(Edit: Instead of voting up or down, please skip the mouse-click and just fill me in. :l )
I'm not sure I understand timeless decision theory well enough to give the "proper" explanation for how it's supposed to work. You can see one-boxing on Newcomb's problem as making a deal with Omega - you promise to one-box, Omega promises to put $1,000,000 in the box. But neither of you ever actually talked to each other, you just imagined each other and made decisions on whether to cooperate or not, based on your prediction that Omega is as described in the problem, and Omega's prediction of your actions which may as well be a perfect simulatio...
Todays xkcd
I guess there'll be a fair bit of traffic coming from people looking it up?