It is not the case that in order for this scenario to be possible, your normal thought-processes must be necessarily irrational. Rather, in order for this scenario to be possible, your normal thought-processes must be possibly irrational. And clearly that’s the case for normal non-supernatural decision-making.
If you did not know about the box, you’d experience your normal decision-making apparatus output a decision in the normal way. Either you’re the sort of person who generally decides rationally or not, and if you’re a particularly rational person the box might have to make you do some strange mental backflips to justify the decision in the case that it’s not rational to make the choice the box specifies.
It is isomorphic, in this sense, to the world determining your actions, except that you’ll get initial conditions that are very strange, in half the times you play this game (assuming a 50% chance of either outcome).
If you know about the box, then it becomes simpler, as you will indeed be able to use this reasoning and the box will probably just have to flip a bit here or there to get you to pick one or the other.
If you’re not the sort of person who usually decides rationally, then following your strategy should be easy. For me, I anticipate that I would decide rationally half the time, and go rather insane the other half (assuming there was a clear rational decision, as you implied above).
You’re mixing modes.
It is not the case that in order for this scenario to be possible, your normal thought-processes must be necessarily irrational. Rather, in order for this scenario to be possible, your normal thought-processes must be possibly irrational. And clearly that’s the case for normal non-supernatural decision-making.
ETA: Unknowns stated the conclusion better
Let’s try a different tack: Is it rational to decide rationally in Unknown’s scenario?
1.Thinking takes effort, and this effort is a disutility. (-c)
2.If I don’t think I will come to the answer the machine is set to. (of utility X)
3.If I do think I will come to the answer the machine is set to. (of utility X)
My outcome if I don’t think is “X” My outcome if I do think if “X-c” Which is less than “X” I shouldn’t waste my effort thinking this through.
If you did not know about the box, you’d experience your normal decision-making apparatus output a decision in the normal way. Either you’re the sort of person who generally decides rationally or not, and if you’re a particularly rational person the box might have to make you do some strange mental backflips to justify the decision in the case that it’s not rational to make the choice the box specifies.
It is isomorphic, in this sense, to the world determining your actions, except that you’ll get initial conditions that are very strange, in half the times you play this game (assuming a 50% chance of either outcome).
If you know about the box, then it becomes simpler, as you will indeed be able to use this reasoning and the box will probably just have to flip a bit here or there to get you to pick one or the other.
If you’re not the sort of person who usually decides rationally, then following your strategy should be easy. For me, I anticipate that I would decide rationally half the time, and go rather insane the other half (assuming there was a clear rational decision, as you implied above).