I call this strategy anti-omega, because it cooperates with dumb TFTs but inflicts some pain on Omegabot (the strategy which always gets the max points it could possibly get against any given opponent). Omegabot would still beat a combo of TFT and anti-omega (the extra points it would get from defecting last turn against TFT, and defecting turn 98 against anti-omega, would make up for the points it lost from having two mutual defections against anti-omega). But at least it would suffer for it.
This points to a case where TDT is not optimal decision theory: if non-TDT agents can reliably detect whether you are a “being too clever” (ie, a member of a class which includes TDT agents), and they punish you for it. Basically, no sense being a rationalist in the dark ages; even if you’re Holmes or Moriarty, the chances that you’ll slip up and be burned as a witch might outweigh the benefits.
I don’t see rationality was a major cause of witch accusations. Indeed, a great number of successful dark agers seem to be ones that were cleverer / more rational than their contemporaries, even openly so.
I call this strategy anti-omega, because it cooperates with dumb TFTs but inflicts some pain on Omegabot (the strategy which always gets the max points it could possibly get against any given opponent). Omegabot would still beat a combo of TFT and anti-omega (the extra points it would get from defecting last turn against TFT, and defecting turn 98 against anti-omega, would make up for the points it lost from having two mutual defections against anti-omega). But at least it would suffer for it.
This points to a case where TDT is not optimal decision theory: if non-TDT agents can reliably detect whether you are a “being too clever” (ie, a member of a class which includes TDT agents), and they punish you for it. Basically, no sense being a rationalist in the dark ages; even if you’re Holmes or Moriarty, the chances that you’ll slip up and be burned as a witch might outweigh the benefits.
I don’t see rationality was a major cause of witch accusations. Indeed, a great number of successful dark agers seem to be ones that were cleverer / more rational than their contemporaries, even openly so.
Edited to show that I was trying to illustrate a concept concisely, not being historically accurate.