Whenever I read about people thinking that blocking a single step or path to doom is sufficient, I remember this quote from the story Ra on qntm.org, about a war between advanced civilizations with very high levels of computing, AI, and simulation capabilities:
This war, which we are fighting today, isn’t necessarily the war. Every strategy and outcome is explored, tens to tens of trillions of times. By them and, when possible, by us. We are engaged in every single conceivable war against every conceivable enemy simultaneously. We must win all of them. We must accept all of them as real.
We can never know if we truly won. Or even if there truly is a war which needs to be won. We could be reasonless fabrications. Nevertheless, this is real. And we must win.
I sometimes forget that this idea is not commonly known, recognized, or accepted.
Alternatively, I think of the low tech version, this scene from Hero, which is basically the same idea.
Sorry, it worked for me, and I didn’t look any further. it’s the one where the two opponents are standing still imagining different complicated and impressive looking ways their battle could go, and then when they actually move it’s over in the first exchange because one saw a possibility the other didn’t anticipate.
Whenever I read about people thinking that blocking a single step or path to doom is sufficient, I remember this quote from the story Ra on qntm.org, about a war between advanced civilizations with very high levels of computing, AI, and simulation capabilities:
I sometimes forget that this idea is not commonly known, recognized, or accepted.
Alternatively, I think of the low tech version, this scene from Hero, which is basically the same idea.
The video in the link is not available.
Sorry, it worked for me, and I didn’t look any further. it’s the one where the two opponents are standing still imagining different complicated and impressive looking ways their battle could go, and then when they actually move it’s over in the first exchange because one saw a possibility the other didn’t anticipate.