What’s stopping you from creating a sub agent (informing a friend) with the task of convincing you not to drink AFTER you’ve gotten the money? …
Like Odysseus with the Sirens, you’d have to “create a subagent”/hire a friend to convince you not to drink, before you intend to drink it, then actually change your intentions and want to drink it.
This doesn’t seem possible for a human mind, though of course it’s easier to imagine for artificial minds that can be edited at will.
How is it not possible? When force is allowed, the hired people could simply physically restrain me—I’d fight them with tooth and nail, their vastly superior training would have me on the floor within a minute, after which I’d be kept separate from the vial of toxin for the remainder of the day. … Although I guess “separation for a period of time”-based arguments rely on you both being obsessive AND pedantic enough to not care about it on the next day. Being really passionate about something and then dropping the issue the next day because the window of opportunity has been closed is … unlikely to occur, so my solution might end up making me rich but leaving me in the looney-bin.
I think a better argument against my ideas is logistics—how could I acquire everything I need in a span of (at most) 23 hours? (The wording is a such that at tonight as the day turns, you must intend to take the poison). A middle class worker generally doesn’t have ties to any mercenaries, and payment isn’t given until the morning after your intent has to be made.
I get your point, though—convincing someone to later convince you already carries massive penalties (“Why are you acting so weird?”), the situation carries massive penalties (“And you believe this guy?”, “For HOW MUCH?!”)...
My argument basically rests on turning the whole thing into a game: “Design a puzzle you cannot get out of. Then, a few minutes before midnight (to be safe), start doing your utmost best to break this puzzle.”
How is it not possible? When force is allowed, the hired people
Why would you hire people to stop you from drinking it, if you intend to drink it, since you know that hiring such people will increase the chances you will end up not drinking it?
I get your point, though—convincing someone to later convince you already carries massive penalties
NO! That’s not my point. My point isn’t whether it’s expensive or difficult to hire someone, My point is that you don’t want to hire someone. Because you intend to drink the toxin, and hiring someone to stop you from doing that doesn’t match your intention.
If I intend to do my best at an exam tomorrow, but stay up late playing games, does this somehow lift my intention to do well on my exam?
By the original problem statement, I have to have the intention of taking the poison AT midnight. Rephrased—when it is midnight, I must intend to take the poison that next day. BEFORE midnight, it is allowed to have OTHER intentions. I intend to use that time to set up hurdles for myself—and then to try my hardest. It would be especially helpful if these hurdles are also things like tricking myself that it won’t actually hurt (via transquilizer to put me under straight afterward, for instance).
I know it sounds like doublethink, but that’s only if you think there is no difference between me before midnight and me after midnight.
By the original problem statement, I have to have the intention of taking the poison AT midnight. Rephrased—when it is midnight, I must intend to take the poison that next day. BEFORE midnight, it is allowed to have OTHER intentions. I intend to use that time to set up hurdles for myself—and then to try my hardest.
If you can change your intentions like that, that’s indeed a fine solution.
I’m not sure that a human mind can, though. Most human minds anyway.
Like Odysseus with the Sirens, you’d have to “create a subagent”/hire a friend to convince you not to drink, before you intend to drink it, then actually change your intentions and want to drink it.
This doesn’t seem possible for a human mind, though of course it’s easier to imagine for artificial minds that can be edited at will.
How is it not possible? When force is allowed, the hired people could simply physically restrain me—I’d fight them with tooth and nail, their vastly superior training would have me on the floor within a minute, after which I’d be kept separate from the vial of toxin for the remainder of the day. … Although I guess “separation for a period of time”-based arguments rely on you both being obsessive AND pedantic enough to not care about it on the next day. Being really passionate about something and then dropping the issue the next day because the window of opportunity has been closed is … unlikely to occur, so my solution might end up making me rich but leaving me in the looney-bin.
I think a better argument against my ideas is logistics—how could I acquire everything I need in a span of (at most) 23 hours? (The wording is a such that at tonight as the day turns, you must intend to take the poison). A middle class worker generally doesn’t have ties to any mercenaries, and payment isn’t given until the morning after your intent has to be made.
I get your point, though—convincing someone to later convince you already carries massive penalties (“Why are you acting so weird?”), the situation carries massive penalties (“And you believe this guy?”, “For HOW MUCH?!”)...
My argument basically rests on turning the whole thing into a game: “Design a puzzle you cannot get out of. Then, a few minutes before midnight (to be safe), start doing your utmost best to break this puzzle.”
Why would you hire people to stop you from drinking it, if you intend to drink it, since you know that hiring such people will increase the chances you will end up not drinking it?
NO! That’s not my point. My point isn’t whether it’s expensive or difficult to hire someone, My point is that you don’t want to hire someone. Because you intend to drink the toxin, and hiring someone to stop you from doing that doesn’t match your intention.
If I intend to do my best at an exam tomorrow, but stay up late playing games, does this somehow lift my intention to do well on my exam?
By the original problem statement, I have to have the intention of taking the poison AT midnight. Rephrased—when it is midnight, I must intend to take the poison that next day. BEFORE midnight, it is allowed to have OTHER intentions. I intend to use that time to set up hurdles for myself—and then to try my hardest. It would be especially helpful if these hurdles are also things like tricking myself that it won’t actually hurt (via transquilizer to put me under straight afterward, for instance).
I know it sounds like doublethink, but that’s only if you think there is no difference between me before midnight and me after midnight.
If you can change your intentions like that, that’s indeed a fine solution.
I’m not sure that a human mind can, though. Most human minds anyway.