“I, in this scenario, cannot. No matter how my mind was setup prior to the scenario, there is only one possible outcome.”
This doesn’t make sense at all. The scenario requires your mind to be set up in a particular way. This does not mean that if your mind were set up in a different way you would still behave in the same way: If your mind were set up in a different way, either the outcome would be the same or your mind would be outside the scope of the scenario.
No matter how my mind is set-up, Omega will change the scenario it to produce the same outcome.
If you took a chess program and chose a move, then gave it precisely the scenario necessary for it to make that move, I wouldn’t consider that move its choice.
If the entity making the choice is irrelevant, and the choice would be the same even if they were replaced by someone completely different, in what sense have they really made a choice?
Okay, so I got the scenario wrong, but I will give another reply. Omega is going to force you to act in a certain way. However, you will still experience what seem, to you, to be cognitive processes, and anyone watching your behavior will see what looks like cognitive processes going on.
Suppose Omega wrote a computer program and he used it to work outhow to control your behavior. Suppose he put this in a microchip and implanted it in your brain. You might say your brain is controlled by the chip, but you might also say that the chip and your brain form a composite entity which is still making decisions in the sense that any other mind is.
Now, suppose Omega keeps possession of the chip, but has it control you remotely. Again, you might still say that the chip and your brain form a composite system.
Finally, suppose Omega just does the computations in his own brain. You might say that your brain, together with Omega’s brain, form a composite system which is causing your behavior—and that this composite system makes decisions just like any other system.
“If the entity making the choice is irrelevant, and the choice would be the same even if they were replaced by someone completely different, in what sense have they really made a choice?”
We could look at your own brain in these terms and ask about removing parts of it.
In the Omega-composite scenario, the composite entity is clearly making the decisions.
In the chip-composite scenario, the chip-composite appears to be making decision, and in the general case I would say probably is.
“If the entity making the choice is irrelevant, and the choice would be the same even if they were replaced by someone completely different, in what sense have they really made a choice?”
We could look at your own brain in these terms and ask about removing parts of it.
Indeed. Not all parts of my brain are involved in all decisions. But, in general, at least some part of me has an effect on what decision I make.
The point, here, is that in the scenario in which Omega is actively manipulating your brain “you” might mean something in a more extended sense and “some part of you” might mean “some part of Omega’s brain”.
Except that that’s not the person the question is being directed at. I’m not “amalgam-Kingreaper-and-Omega” at the moment. Asking what that person would do would garner completely different responses.
For example, amalgam-kingreaper-and-omega has a fondness for creating ridiculous scenarios and inflicting them on rationalists.
“Except that that’s not the person the question is being directed at.”
Does that mean that you accept that it might at least be conceivable that the scenario implies the existence of a compound being who is less constrained than the person being controlled by Omega?
Just that the scenario could really be considered as just adding an extra component onto a being—one that has a lot of influence on his behavior.
Similarly, we might imagine surgically removing a piece of your brain, connecting the neurons at the edges of the removed piece to the ones left in your brain by radio control, and taking the removed piece to another location, from which it still plays a full part in your thought processes. We would probably still consider that composite system “you”.
What if you had a brain disorder and some electronics were implanted into your brain? Maybe a system to help with social cues for Asperger syndrome, or a system to help with dyslexia? What if we had a process to make extra neurons grow to repair damage? We might easily consider many things to be a “you which has been modified”.
When you say that the question is not directed at the compound entity, one answer could be that the scenario involved adding an extra component to you, that “you” has been extended, and that the compound entity is now “you”.
The scenario, as I understand it doesn’t really specify the limits of the entity involved. It talks about your brain, and what Omega is doing to it, but it doesn’t specifically disallow the idea that the “you” that it is about gets modified in the process.
Now, if you want to edit the scenario to specify exactly what the “you” is here...
No matter how my mind is set-up, Omega will change the scenario it to produce the same outcome.
If you took a chess program and chose a move, then gave it precisely the scenario necessary for it to make that move, I wouldn’t consider that move its choice.
If the entity making the choice is irrelevant, and the choice would be the same even if they were replaced by someone completely different, in what sense have they really made a choice?
Okay, so I got the scenario wrong, but I will give another reply. Omega is going to force you to act in a certain way. However, you will still experience what seem, to you, to be cognitive processes, and anyone watching your behavior will see what looks like cognitive processes going on.
Suppose Omega wrote a computer program and he used it to work outhow to control your behavior. Suppose he put this in a microchip and implanted it in your brain. You might say your brain is controlled by the chip, but you might also say that the chip and your brain form a composite entity which is still making decisions in the sense that any other mind is.
Now, suppose Omega keeps possession of the chip, but has it control you remotely. Again, you might still say that the chip and your brain form a composite system.
Finally, suppose Omega just does the computations in his own brain. You might say that your brain, together with Omega’s brain, form a composite system which is causing your behavior—and that this composite system makes decisions just like any other system.
“If the entity making the choice is irrelevant, and the choice would be the same even if they were replaced by someone completely different, in what sense have they really made a choice?”
We could look at your own brain in these terms and ask about removing parts of it.
In the Omega-composite scenario, the composite entity is clearly making the decisions.
In the chip-composite scenario, the chip-composite appears to be making decision, and in the general case I would say probably is.
Indeed. Not all parts of my brain are involved in all decisions. But, in general, at least some part of me has an effect on what decision I make.
The point, here, is that in the scenario in which Omega is actively manipulating your brain “you” might mean something in a more extended sense and “some part of you” might mean “some part of Omega’s brain”.
Except that that’s not the person the question is being directed at. I’m not “amalgam-Kingreaper-and-Omega” at the moment. Asking what that person would do would garner completely different responses.
For example, amalgam-kingreaper-and-omega has a fondness for creating ridiculous scenarios and inflicting them on rationalists.
“Except that that’s not the person the question is being directed at.”
Does that mean that you accept that it might at least be conceivable that the scenario implies the existence of a compound being who is less constrained than the person being controlled by Omega?
Yes. Of course, the part of them that is unconstrained IS Omega.
I’m just not sure about the relevance of this?
Just that the scenario could really be considered as just adding an extra component onto a being—one that has a lot of influence on his behavior.
Similarly, we might imagine surgically removing a piece of your brain, connecting the neurons at the edges of the removed piece to the ones left in your brain by radio control, and taking the removed piece to another location, from which it still plays a full part in your thought processes. We would probably still consider that composite system “you”.
What if you had a brain disorder and some electronics were implanted into your brain? Maybe a system to help with social cues for Asperger syndrome, or a system to help with dyslexia? What if we had a process to make extra neurons grow to repair damage? We might easily consider many things to be a “you which has been modified”.
When you say that the question is not directed at the compound entity, one answer could be that the scenario involved adding an extra component to you, that “you” has been extended, and that the compound entity is now “you”.
The scenario, as I understand it doesn’t really specify the limits of the entity involved. It talks about your brain, and what Omega is doing to it, but it doesn’t specifically disallow the idea that the “you” that it is about gets modified in the process.
Now, if you want to edit the scenario to specify exactly what the “you” is here...
We do. But what if we had a better one?