What about if I bet you $500 that you’re not WillNewsome? That way you can prove your separate existence to me, get paid, and I can use the proof you give me to take a thousand from MitchellPorter. In fact, I’ll go as high as 700 dollars if you agree to prove yourself to me and MitchellPorter.
Of course, this offer is isomorphic to you taking Mitchell’s bet and sending 300-500 dollars to me for no reason, and you’re not taking his bet currently, so I don’t expect you to be convinced by this offering either.
What possible proof could I offer you? I can’t take you up on the bet because, while I’m not Newsome, I can’t think of anything I could do that he couldn’t fake if this were a sockpuppet account. If we met in person, I could be the very same person as Newsome anyway; he could really secretly be a she. Or the person you meet could be paid by Newsome to pretend to be AspiringKnitter.
Well, I don’t know what proof you could offer me; but if we genuinely put 500 dollars either way on the line, I am certain we’d rapidly agree on a standard of proof that satisfied us both.
Nope, plenty of people onsite have met Will. I mean, I suppose it is not strictly impossible, but I would be surprised if he were able to present that convincingly as a dude and then later present as convincingly as a girl. Bonus points if you have long hair.
Excellent question. One way to deal with it is for all the relevant agents to agree on a bet that’s actually specified… that is, instead of betting that “AspiringKnitter is/isn’t the same person as WillNewsome,” bet that “two verifiably different people will present themselves to a trusted third party identifying as WillNewsome and AspiringKnitter” and agree on a mechanism of verifying their difference (e.g., Skype).
You’re of course right that these are two different questions, and the latter doesn’t prove the former, but if y’all agree to bet on the latter then the former becomes irrelevant. It would be silly of anyone to agree to the latter if their goal was to establish the former, but my guess is that isn’t actually the goal of anyone involved.
Just in case this matters, I don’t actually care. For all I know, you and shokwave are the same person; it really doesn’t affect my life in any way. This is the Internet, if I’m not willing to take people’s personas at face value, then I do best not to engage with them at all.
I’ll bet US$10 you have significant outside information.
He doesn’t.
See, I’d like to believe you, but a thousand dollars is a lot of money.
Take him up on his bet, then.
(Not that I have any intention of showing up anywhere just to show you who I am and am not. Unless you’re going to pay ME that $1000.)
What about if I bet you $500 that you’re not WillNewsome? That way you can prove your separate existence to me, get paid, and I can use the proof you give me to take a thousand from MitchellPorter. In fact, I’ll go as high as 700 dollars if you agree to prove yourself to me and MitchellPorter.
Of course, this offer is isomorphic to you taking Mitchell’s bet and sending 300-500 dollars to me for no reason, and you’re not taking his bet currently, so I don’t expect you to be convinced by this offering either.
What possible proof could I offer you? I can’t take you up on the bet because, while I’m not Newsome, I can’t think of anything I could do that he couldn’t fake if this were a sockpuppet account. If we met in person, I could be the very same person as Newsome anyway; he could really secretly be a she. Or the person you meet could be paid by Newsome to pretend to be AspiringKnitter.
Well, I don’t know what proof you could offer me; but if we genuinely put 500 dollars either way on the line, I am certain we’d rapidly agree on a standard of proof that satisfied us both.
Nope, plenty of people onsite have met Will. I mean, I suppose it is not strictly impossible, but I would be surprised if he were able to present that convincingly as a dude and then later present as convincingly as a girl. Bonus points if you have long hair.
Excellent question. One way to deal with it is for all the relevant agents to agree on a bet that’s actually specified… that is, instead of betting that “AspiringKnitter is/isn’t the same person as WillNewsome,” bet that “two verifiably different people will present themselves to a trusted third party identifying as WillNewsome and AspiringKnitter” and agree on a mechanism of verifying their difference (e.g., Skype).
You’re of course right that these are two different questions, and the latter doesn’t prove the former, but if y’all agree to bet on the latter then the former becomes irrelevant. It would be silly of anyone to agree to the latter if their goal was to establish the former, but my guess is that isn’t actually the goal of anyone involved.
Just in case this matters, I don’t actually care. For all I know, you and shokwave are the same person; it really doesn’t affect my life in any way. This is the Internet, if I’m not willing to take people’s personas at face value, then I do best not to engage with them at all.
Why would he do that? He’d lose!
Yeah, you take the bet. Free money! Show up on Skype.
And get accused of being this person’s sister impersonating his sockpuppet?
As far as we know.