Can you control the past? - Joe Carlsmith
I think that you can “control” events you have no causal interaction with, including events in the past, and that this is a wild and disorienting fact, with uncertain but possibly significant implications. This essay attempts to impart such disorientation.
Podcast version here, or search for “Joe Carlsmith Audio” in your podcast app. I think that you can “control” events you have no causal interaction with, including events in the past, and that this is a wild and disorienting fact, with uncertain but possibly significant implications. This post attempts to impart such disorientation. My main example is a prisoner’s dilemma between perfect deterministic software twins, exposed to the exact same inputs. This example that shows, I think, that you can write on whiteboards light-years away, with no delays; you can move the arm of another person,…
saved by
related reading
- Can you control the past? — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Why should ethical anti-realists do ethics? - Joe Carlsmithjoecarlsmith.com
- Operationalizing FDT — LessWronglesswrong.com
- On Functional Decision Theory :: Wolfgang Schwarzumsu.de
- Possibility and Could-ness — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Thoughts on Updatelessness – The Universe from an Intentional Stancecasparoesterheld.com
- Decision theory and dynamic inconsistency — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Decision theory and dynamic inconsistency – The sideways viewsideways-view.com
- UDT shows that decision theory is more puzzling than ever — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Decision Theory Research Overviewcasparoesterheld.com
- VDT: a solution to decision theory — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Evidential Cooperation in Large Worlds: Potential Objections & FAQ — LessWronglesswrong.com