CDT can ‘see’ the classical, everyday causal connections that are marked in formulas with the symbol “>” (and I’d have to spend several hours reading at least the Stanford Encyclopaedia before I could give you a confident definition of that), but it cannot ‘see’ the connection in Newcomb’s problem between the agent’s choice of boxes and the content of the opaque box (sometimes called ‘retrocausality’).
Ok, so if I understand you, there are only some finite number of valid kinds of connections between events and when we have all of them incorporated—when our decision theory can “see” each of them—we are then all done. We have the final, perfect decision theory (FPDT).
But what do you do then when someone—call him Yuri Geller—comes along and points out that we left out one important kind of connection: the “superspooky” connection. And then he provides some very impressive statistical evidence that this connection exists and sets up games in front of large (paying) audiences in which FPDT agents fail to WIN. He then proclaims the need for SSPDT.
Or, if you don’t buy that, maybe you will prefer this one. Yuri Geller doesn’t really exist. He is a thought experiment. Still the existence of even the possibility of superspooky connections proves that they really do exist and hence that we need to have SADT—Saint Anselm’s Decision Theory.
Ok, I’ve allowed my sarcasm to get the better of me. But the question remains—how are you ever going to know that you have covered all possible kinds of connections between events?
But the question remains—how are you ever going to know that you have covered all possible kinds of connections between events?
You can’t, I guess. Within an established mathematical model, it may be possible to prove that a list of possible configurations of event pairs {A, B} is exhaustive. But the model may always prove in need of expansion or refinement—whether because some element gets understood and modellised at a deeper level (eg the nature of ‘free’ will) or, more worryingly, because of paradigm shifts about physical reality (eg turns out we can time travel).
Ok, so if I understand you, there are only some finite number of valid kinds of connections between events and when we have all of them incorporated—when our decision theory can “see” each of them—we are then all done. We have the final, perfect decision theory (FPDT).
But what do you do then when someone—call him Yuri Geller—comes along and points out that we left out one important kind of connection: the “superspooky” connection. And then he provides some very impressive statistical evidence that this connection exists and sets up games in front of large (paying) audiences in which FPDT agents fail to WIN. He then proclaims the need for SSPDT.
Or, if you don’t buy that, maybe you will prefer this one. Yuri Geller doesn’t really exist. He is a thought experiment. Still the existence of even the possibility of superspooky connections proves that they really do exist and hence that we need to have SADT—Saint Anselm’s Decision Theory.
Ok, I’ve allowed my sarcasm to get the better of me. But the question remains—how are you ever going to know that you have covered all possible kinds of connections between events?
You can’t, I guess. Within an established mathematical model, it may be possible to prove that a list of possible configurations of event pairs {A, B} is exhaustive. But the model may always prove in need of expansion or refinement—whether because some element gets understood and modellised at a deeper level (eg the nature of ‘free’ will) or, more worryingly, because of paradigm shifts about physical reality (eg turns out we can time travel).