From: Robin Hanson (rhanson@gmu.edu)
Date: Tue Aug 05 2003 - 12:19:55 MDT
On 8/5/2003, Wei Dai wrote:
>So we have one prominent extropian telling us to live for today, and
>another one telling us to live for the far future. Who is right? It
>occurs to me that we should take a probability-weighted average of the
>two positions. If the simulation argument is correct, there is a tiny
>probability that we live in root reality and what we do today affects
>an astronomical number of potential future individuals (including all
>future simulated individuals), and a near 1 probability that we live in
>a simulation and our actions affect relatively few people. We need to
>take both possibilities into account when making decisions. When we do,
>I think the two positions cancel out somewhat and we can live a more
>"normal" life.
>
>[1] http://www.nickbostrom.com/astronomical/waste.html
>[2] http://www.transhumanist.com/volume7/simulation.html
For some decisions this might cancel but for others it would not.
As you've presented it, you'd give less weight to 25 years from now,
replaced both by today and by a million years from now.
Robin Hanson rhanson@gmu.edu http://hanson.gmu.edu
Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
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