This is a hypothetical where a human beings actions can all be predicted with high accuracy. Your actions are constantly being influenced by the inputs you receive, so in order to predict your behavior, you’d also need to predict everything you’re going to be experiencing. This necessarily includes the results of that coin flip and the Geiger counter readings.
Comment on Random Choice in Newcomb's Paradox
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 3 weeks agoDon’t be pedantic. We all understand the meaning.
1st, a coin flip is random enough such that no computer can pre determine the result of the flip with 99.9% accuracy. The process is chaotic.
2nd, walk into the room with a Geiger counter and pick the box based on the click you get from a cosmic ray.
howrar@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
. This necessarily includes the results of that coin flip and the Geiger counter readings.
The OP said he flips the coin after going into the room. But the computer setup the boxes before they entered. So the computer knowing how you’d react to the coin flip can’t change the boxes.
howrar@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I don’t know what you’re getting at. Did I say something to suggest I misunderstood this part?
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You said this:
“This necessarily includes the results of that coin flip and the Geiger counter readings.”
The premise states the computer sets up the boxes BEFORE you enter the room. The OP states he flips the coin AFTER he enters the room.
The computer cannot change the boxes after he entered the room.
Oka@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
The result of the coinflip is measurable, though. It could be done by a hyperintelligent being.
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You didn’t read the article. The computer isn’t watching you flip the coin and then switching the boxes at the last moment.
The boxes are fixed before you enter the room. The computer has already predicted your choice.
Oka@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
I didnt read the article because in familiar with the theory already. I believe the universe is determinate, so every choice is predetermined. Therefore, the “predictor” can calculate your exact choice if it knows all variables of the universe. If it doesnt, it can calculate a likelihood between 99.9 repeating and 50.0 repeating, based on all the variables it does know.
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
That has been experimentally proven false and outside of all mainstream science.
While you can have a supernatural belief in a clockwork universe, the premise is a supercomputer makes the prediction, not God.