After the last discussion of cooperation as meta-commitment, I found another intuition for cooperation in prisoner’s dilemma: trade. If you are more efficient in doing things good for the other side than other side, and other side is more efficient in doing things for you than you are, then both of you should do things that other side likes, even if you don’t. For example, if it turns out that humanity is sufficiently better positioned for making paperclips than paperclip maximizer, and paperclip maximizer is better positioned to create a Friendly future than we are, then cooperation on our side can consist in us killing off ourselves and starting to make paperclips, and paperclipper should stop making paperclips and become Friendly. Essentially, you are physically switching places with an enemy, and as a result you both a better off. Your mind starts to host enemy’s mind with enemy’s morality, and enemy’s mind start to host your mind with your morality. This switching can be temporary as well as permanent, and sides in this trade can be located anywhere in time or space. The only prerequisite is that you both know what the other side wants, and how things are expected to turn out given your actions, even if you are unable to communicate, ever.
After the last discussion of cooperation as meta-commitment, I found another intuition for cooperation in prisoner’s dilemma: trade. If you are more efficient in doing things good for the other side than other side, and other side is more efficient in doing things for you than you are, then both of you should do things that other side likes, even if you don’t. For example, if it turns out that humanity is sufficiently better positioned for making paperclips than paperclip maximizer, and paperclip maximizer is better positioned to create a Friendly future than we are, then cooperation on our side can consist in us killing off ourselves and starting to make paperclips, and paperclipper should stop making paperclips and become Friendly. Essentially, you are physically switching places with an enemy, and as a result you both a better off. Your mind starts to host enemy’s mind with enemy’s morality, and enemy’s mind start to host your mind with your morality. This switching can be temporary as well as permanent, and sides in this trade can be located anywhere in time or space. The only prerequisite is that you both know what the other side wants, and how things are expected to turn out given your actions, even if you are unable to communicate, ever.