Re:The Most Terrifying Thought Experiment
by maxerickson on Friday July 18, 2014 @12:23AM
(#8051647)
For a lot of people, the real thing to do if they believe they are in a simulation is to try to mess it up.
Presumably, it's simulating you to observe your reactions to stimuli, so it won't bother with C. It'll probably do a lot of B, though--such an agent is usually called Omega, and there's a body of discourse on how to play optimally against it in a game-theoretic sense (e.g. http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Newcomb%27s_problem).
Re:The Most Terrifying Thought Experiment
by maxerickson on Friday July 18, 2014 @12:52AM
(#8051724)
Imagining that I would refuse to take the potential million isn't going to change the fact that I would take the potential million.
I guess Batman villain Two-Face has the best odds against this Omega fella.
>I guess Batman villain Two-Face has the best odds against this Omega fella.
I find this interesting because I am curious about game-theoretic strategies for playing against illogical opponents.
Is "Everything is Real" a reference to qntm.org/ra , a phrase that you and that both got it from, or something that you just independently came up with and capitalized?
Also, can you clarify what you mean by "wasn't serious anyway"?
Note: I do not think that there is a significant chance of roko's basilisk occurring. (where significant means "neccesary to consider when making decisions")
edit:
I also occurs to me that if we're being simulated by an AI
a) I don't really care about my super self that much
b) Any AI that is simulating me can, by definition read my mind so it'll know I wasn't serious anyway
c) This AI can also plant thoughts in my head.
At this point there's really no point at all considering anything else because either nothing matters and I have no control over anything anyway or it's reality, I do and I'd do what I do normally.