Yes. The universe is deterministic. Your actions are completely predictable, in principle. That’s not unique to this thought experiment. That’s true for every thing you do. You still have to make a choice. Cooperate or defect?
Um, what? First of all, the universe is not deterministic—quantum mechanics means there’s inherent randomness. Secondly, as far as we know, it’s consistent with the laws of physics that my actions are fundamentally unpredictable—see here.
Third, if I’m playing against a clone of myself, I don’t think it’s even a valid PD. Can the utility functions ever differ between me and my clone? Whenever my clone gets utility, I get utility, because there’s no physical way to distinguish between us (I have no way of saying which copy “I” am). But if we always have the exact same utility—if his happiness equals my happiness—then constructing a PD game is impossible.
Finally, even if I agree to cooperate against my clone, I claim this says nothing about cooperating versus other people. Against all agents that don’t have access to my code, the correct strategy in a one-shot PD is to defect, but first do/say whatever causes my opponent to cooperate. For example, if I was playing against LWers, I might first rant on about TDT or whatever, agree with my opponent’s philosophy as much as possible, etc., etc., and then defect in the actual game. (Note again that this only applies to one-shot games).
Even if you’re playing against a clone, you can distinguish the copies by where they are in space and so on. You can see which side of the room you are on, so you know which one you are. That means one of you can get utility without the other one getting it.
People don’t actually have the same code, but they have similar code. If the code in some case is similar enough that you can’t personally tell the difference, you should follow the same rule as when you are playing against a clone.
You can see which side of the room you are on, so you know which one you are.
If I can do this, then my clone and I can do different things. In that case, I can’t be guaranteed that if I cooperate, my clone will too (because my decision might have depended on which side of the room I’m on). But I agree that the cloning situation is strange, and that I might cooperate if I’m actually faced with it (though I’m quite sure that I never will).
People don’t actually have the same code, but they have similar code. If the code in some case is similar enough that you can’t personally tell the difference, you should follow the same rule as when you are playing against a clone.
How do you know if people have “similar” code to you? See, I’m anonymous on this forum, but in real life, I might pretend to believe in TDT and pretend to have code that’s “similar” to people around me (whatever that means—code similarity is not well-defined). So you might know me in real life. If so, presumably you’d cooperate if we played a PD, because you’d believe our code is similar. But I will defect (if it’s a one-time game). My strategy seems strictly superior to yours—I always get more utility in one-shot PDs.
I would cooperate with you if I couldn’t distinguish my code from yours, even if there might be minor differences, even in a one-shot case, because the best guess I would have of what you would do is that you would do the same thing that I do.
But since you’re making it clear that your code is quite different, and in a particular way, I would defect against you.
But since you’re making it clear that your code is quite different, and in a particular way, I would defect against you.
You don’t know who I am! I’m anonymous! Whoever you’d cooperate with, I might be that person (remember, in real life I pretend to have a completely different philosophy on this matter). Unless you defect against ALL HUMANS, you risk cooperating when facing me, since you don’t know what my disguise will be.
Oh, yes, me too. I want to engage in one-shot PD games with entirelyuseless (as opposed to other people), because he or she will give me free utility if I sell myself right. I wouldn’t want to play one-shot PDs against myself, in the same way that I wouldn’t want to play chess against Kasparov.
By the way, note that I usually cooperate in repeated PD games, and most real-life PDs are repeated games. In addition, my utility function takes other people into consideration; I would not screw people over for small personal gains, because I care about their happiness. In other words, defecting in one-shot PDs is entirely consistent with being a decent human being.
Um, what? First of all, the universe is not deterministic—quantum mechanics means there’s inherent randomness. Secondly, as far as we know, it’s consistent with the laws of physics that my actions are fundamentally unpredictable—see here.
Third, if I’m playing against a clone of myself, I don’t think it’s even a valid PD. Can the utility functions ever differ between me and my clone? Whenever my clone gets utility, I get utility, because there’s no physical way to distinguish between us (I have no way of saying which copy “I” am). But if we always have the exact same utility—if his happiness equals my happiness—then constructing a PD game is impossible.
Finally, even if I agree to cooperate against my clone, I claim this says nothing about cooperating versus other people. Against all agents that don’t have access to my code, the correct strategy in a one-shot PD is to defect, but first do/say whatever causes my opponent to cooperate. For example, if I was playing against LWers, I might first rant on about TDT or whatever, agree with my opponent’s philosophy as much as possible, etc., etc., and then defect in the actual game. (Note again that this only applies to one-shot games).
Even if you’re playing against a clone, you can distinguish the copies by where they are in space and so on. You can see which side of the room you are on, so you know which one you are. That means one of you can get utility without the other one getting it.
People don’t actually have the same code, but they have similar code. If the code in some case is similar enough that you can’t personally tell the difference, you should follow the same rule as when you are playing against a clone.
If I can do this, then my clone and I can do different things. In that case, I can’t be guaranteed that if I cooperate, my clone will too (because my decision might have depended on which side of the room I’m on). But I agree that the cloning situation is strange, and that I might cooperate if I’m actually faced with it (though I’m quite sure that I never will).
How do you know if people have “similar” code to you? See, I’m anonymous on this forum, but in real life, I might pretend to believe in TDT and pretend to have code that’s “similar” to people around me (whatever that means—code similarity is not well-defined). So you might know me in real life. If so, presumably you’d cooperate if we played a PD, because you’d believe our code is similar. But I will defect (if it’s a one-time game). My strategy seems strictly superior to yours—I always get more utility in one-shot PDs.
I would cooperate with you if I couldn’t distinguish my code from yours, even if there might be minor differences, even in a one-shot case, because the best guess I would have of what you would do is that you would do the same thing that I do.
But since you’re making it clear that your code is quite different, and in a particular way, I would defect against you.
You don’t know who I am! I’m anonymous! Whoever you’d cooperate with, I might be that person (remember, in real life I pretend to have a completely different philosophy on this matter). Unless you defect against ALL HUMANS, you risk cooperating when facing me, since you don’t know what my disguise will be.
I will take that chance into account. Fortunately it is a low one and should hardly be a reason to defect against all humans.
Cool, so in conclusion, if we met in real life and played a one-shot PD, you’d (probably) cooperate and I’d defect. My strategy seems superior.
And yet I somehow find myself more inclined to engage in PD-like interactions with entirelyuseless than with your good self.
Oh, yes, me too. I want to engage in one-shot PD games with entirelyuseless (as opposed to other people), because he or she will give me free utility if I sell myself right. I wouldn’t want to play one-shot PDs against myself, in the same way that I wouldn’t want to play chess against Kasparov.
By the way, note that I usually cooperate in repeated PD games, and most real-life PDs are repeated games. In addition, my utility function takes other people into consideration; I would not screw people over for small personal gains, because I care about their happiness. In other words, defecting in one-shot PDs is entirely consistent with being a decent human being.