Yes, including other people’s memories. And if you rewind to before some younger person’s conception, you can prevent their existence outright should you take the relevant actions.
So in a world with only two people, both determined to win at paper, stone, scissors, you risk an infinite cycle and may never get to 5 minutes of simulated time.
Perhaps you only have a set number of tries before you just have to accept what happens. This might actually be an improvement, since while it would definitely be nice to redo my worst mistakes and to experiment before trying something difficult, life might get a bit meaningless if there were never any permanent consequences to anything.
Or if not achieve something, at least prevent the other guy from achieving anything.
However, in this scenario, it doesn’t take much willpower. Every time someone pushes ‘reset’, (s)he thinks it is the first time the button has been pushed.
So it requires determinism, not determination, to keep on doing what you did before. ;)
Actually, given that the player who goes back retains his memories, even what you suggest doesn’t guarantee a cycle. So my mention of determinism was fatuous. What is required is simply that the two players continue to retain a determination to win.
Yes, including other people’s memories. And if you rewind to before some younger person’s conception, you can prevent their existence outright should you take the relevant actions.
So in a world with only two people, both determined to win at paper, stone, scissors, you risk an infinite cycle and may never get to 5 minutes of simulated time.
Perhaps you only have a set number of tries before you just have to accept what happens. This might actually be an improvement, since while it would definitely be nice to redo my worst mistakes and to experiment before trying something difficult, life might get a bit meaningless if there were never any permanent consequences to anything.
Well, yes, that could happen.
In that sense, it would be a world where sufficient willpower (in the sense of boredom-resistance) really can achieve nearly anything.
Or if not achieve something, at least prevent the other guy from achieving anything.
However, in this scenario, it doesn’t take much willpower. Every time someone pushes ‘reset’, (s)he thinks it is the first time the button has been pushed.
So it requires determinism, not determination, to keep on doing what you did before. ;)
Only if each reset went back further than the other player’s last reset, which obviously isn’t a stable equilibrium.
Actually, given that the player who goes back retains his memories, even what you suggest doesn’t guarantee a cycle. So my mention of determinism was fatuous. What is required is simply that the two players continue to retain a determination to win.