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The Argument Against Determinism from Newcomb’s Paradox

שו”תCategory: philosophyThe Argument Against Determinism from Newcomb’s Paradox
asked 6 years ago

To the esteemed Rabbi, greetings.
In the book The Science of Freedom, an argument against determinism is presented from Newcomb’s paradox, and the late author on page 153 (“Further clarification of Newcomb’s paradox”):
“But further observation shows that the determinist’s difficulty remains. Our problem is not about what the voter would do in such a situation, but what is right for him to do. This is a mathematical question about strategy, which belongs to game theory, and not a question about the psychology of the voter or what will actually happen. Even in the deterministic picture, which holds that none of us have freedom of choice, the question can be asked: Assuming that some creature in some imaginary world has freedom of choice, what would be more right for him to do? There is no answer to this question, and this is the very problem that arises in the deterministic picture,” he said.
And I didn’t understand. After all, even the determinist would agree that “assuming that there is some kind of imaginary world, some kind of freedom of choice,” then the whole problem doesn’t begin because even the prophet doesn’t know what doesn’t exist (and as explained before, that’s what the libertarian believes). So where is there an argument against the determinist here? He’s basically saying that our Earth is different from this imaginary world.


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מיכי Staff answered 6 years ago
But if the prophet does not know the future as a matter of choice then the whole discussion does not begin. How on earth do you arrive at the conclusion that the existence of a strategy contradicts determinism. His argument is based on the fact that the prophet can know the future even when there is a choice. Of course, if he makes a deterministic claim about our world he can remain consistently imprisoned in his method.

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הפוסק האחרון replied 6 years ago

If there is one thing this paradox proves, it is that there is no free choice.
Everything a person chooses stems from a certain interest.
In this question, the goal is to make more money.

Why wasn't the question asked, which box would someone with free choice choose?
Because that is a question that only cats who don't care about money can answer.

מיכי Staff replied 6 years ago

Following the photo of the segment in the email.
You are right that there is no evidence against him on the logical level, but this empties the question of what the correct strategy is for such a case. Determinists also agree that the question of strategy is legitimate, but in their opinion the choice of strategy is the result of mechanical calculation and not of a decision. Therefore, the question is still open to them:
Given a deterministic world, now you have two boxes in front of you, which one should you take? Ostensibly, according to his method, only one should be taken, but this does not make sense because if he decides to take both, he cannot lose. This is also true in a deterministic world.

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