Re: [sl4] Is belief in immortality computable?

From: Mike Dougherty (msd001@gmail.com)
Date: Mon May 18 2009 - 21:21:30 MDT


On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 10:34 PM, Benja Fallenstein
<benja.fallenstein@gmail.com> wrote:
> On day 1, give the agent a choice between two contracts, A and B. A
> pays $1 every day until the end of time. B offers no recurrent
> payments, but on every successive day the agent can terminate the
> contract; if the agent terminates the contract on day n, it receives a
> one-time payment of $(n+1000).

  A mortal may wisely determine that there is a high likelihood they
could outlive their prediction by more than 1000 days, so should
choose contract A the same as an immortal who chooses A.

  Every scenario I have imagined to 'solve' this puzzle involves a
cooperative relationship between two conscious agents gaming a dumb
system. That's so far from the scenario that it isn't worth
discussing. I still conclude that "immortality" is NOT computable.
(for the commonly understood definition)



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