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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!harpo!eagle!allegra!alice!rabbit!wolit
From: wolit@rabbit.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.math
Subject: Re: "Newcomb Situation"
Message-ID: <2147@rabbit.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 1-Nov-83 11:43:26 EST
Article-I.D.: rabbit.2147
Posted: Tue Nov  1 11:43:26 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Nov-83 02:13:49 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 15

If you believe in the Supreme Predictor, it's obvious that you
should take the closed box alone, since you'll get $1,000,000 instead
of only $1,000 (which you'd get if you take both the open box --
containing the $1,000 -- and the closed one -- which the SP left
empty, since He/She/It knew you'd try to be greedy).

I'm an atheist.  I also believe that a bird in the hand PLUS one in
the bush is a LOT better that just the one in the bush.  I'll take
both boxes.

The math here is trivial.  The "problem" is interesting for reasons
that have nothing to do with math.  Let's leave things like this for
net.religion.

	Jan Wolitzky, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ