assuming the thought experiment doesn’t leak control
:/ The whole point of thought experiments is that they leak control. ;P
“I seem to have found myself in a trolley problem! This is fantastically unlikely. I’m probably in some weird moral philosophy thought experiment and my actions are likely mostly going to be used as propaganda supporting the ‘obvious’ conclusions of one side or the other… oh and if I try to find a clever third option I’ll probably make myself counterfactual in most contexts. Does the fact that I’m thinking these thoughts affect what contexts I’m in? /brainasplodes”
:/ The whole point of thought experiments is that they leak control. ;P
“I seem to have found myself in a trolley problem! This is fantastically unlikely. I’m probably in some weird moral philosophy thought experiment and my actions are likely mostly going to be used as propaganda supporting the ‘obvious’ conclusions of one side or the other… oh and if I try to find a clever third option I’ll probably make myself counterfactual in most contexts. Does the fact that I’m thinking these thoughts affect what contexts I’m in? /brainasplodes”
This is exactly what my downscale copy thinks the first 3-5 times I try to run any though experiment. Often it’s followed by “**, I’m going to die!”
I don’t run though experiments containing myself at any level of detail if I can avoid it any more.