There is rarely a stable equilibrium in evolutionary games. When we look at the actual history of evolution, it is one of arms races—every time a new form of signaling is invented, another organism figures out how to fake it. Any Parfitian filter can be passed by an organism that merely fools Omega. And such an organism will do better than one who actually pays Omega.
There is rarely a stable equilibrium in evolutionary games. When we look at the actual history of evolution, it is one of arms races—every time a new form of signaling is invented, another organism figures out how to fake it. Any Parfitian filter can be passed by an organism that merely fools Omega. And such an organism will do better than one who actually pays Omega.
I think this crystallizes what didn’t make sense to me about his parenthood example—there is no Omega for that process, no agent to be fooled, even hypothetically.