We’re just about to enter the “words” sequence and Eliezer wants to remind us that words carry no information unless we know why they were written.
I have always interpreted it in a similar way, and I believe that this post is included on the wiki with the words sequence. However, when I posted it yesterday, a different interpretation occurred to me, given that it immediately followed Newcomb’s Problem and Regret of Rationality. In this interpretation, there is a “reasonable” reason to pick the second box, but that doesn’t matter. The point of logic is to avoid finding the dagger, and if it fails, use a different logic.
I have always interpreted it in a similar way, and I believe that this post is included on the wiki with the words sequence. However, when I posted it yesterday, a different interpretation occurred to me, given that it immediately followed Newcomb’s Problem and Regret of Rationality. In this interpretation, there is a “reasonable” reason to pick the second box, but that doesn’t matter. The point of logic is to avoid finding the dagger, and if it fails, use a different logic.
Sometimes the relevant logic is the one with this axiom: “The King is a fink!”
(I believe this may fairly be called Idiotic logic.)