Sure, precommitments are not certain, but theyâre a way of raising the stakes for yourself (putting more of your reputation on the line) to make it more likely that youâll follow through, and more convincing to other people that this is likely.
In other words: of course you donât have any way to reach probability 0, but you can form intentions and make promises that reduce the probability (I guess technically this is ârestructuring your brainâ?)
This is not how I understand the term. What youâre describing is how I would describe the word âcommitmentâ. But a âprecommitmentâ is more strict; the idea is that you have to follow through in order to ensure that you can get through a Newcombâs paradox situation.
You can use precommitments to take advantage of time-travel shenanigans, to successfully one-box Newcomb, or to ensure that near-copies of you (in the multiverse sense) can work together to achieve things that you otherwise wouldnât.
With that said, it may make sense to say that we humans canât really precommit in these kinds of ways. But to the extent that we might be able to, we may want to try, so that if any of these scifi scenarios ever do come up, weâd be able to take advantage of them.
Yeah, if precommitment is to be distinguished from regular âintending to do a thingâ or âstating such intentionâ, it must be ripping out your steering wheel in a game of chicken.
Making a promise not to something I didnât intend toâand where doing it would already harm me sociallyâdoesnât seem to add much beyond the value of stating my intentions (and the statement could still be a lie).
Sure, precommitments are not certain, but theyâre a way of raising the stakes for yourself (putting more of your reputation on the line) to make it more likely that youâll follow through, and more convincing to other people that this is likely.
In other words: of course you donât have any way to reach probability 0, but you can form intentions and make promises that reduce the probability (I guess technically this is ârestructuring your brainâ?)
This is not how I understand the term. What youâre describing is how I would describe the word âcommitmentâ. But a âprecommitmentâ is more strict; the idea is that you have to follow through in order to ensure that you can get through a Newcombâs paradox situation.
You can use precommitments to take advantage of time-travel shenanigans, to successfully one-box Newcomb, or to ensure that near-copies of you (in the multiverse sense) can work together to achieve things that you otherwise wouldnât.
With that said, it may make sense to say that we humans canât really precommit in these kinds of ways. But to the extent that we might be able to, we may want to try, so that if any of these scifi scenarios ever do come up, weâd be able to take advantage of them.
Yeah, if precommitment is to be distinguished from regular âintending to do a thingâ or âstating such intentionâ, it must be ripping out your steering wheel in a game of chicken.
Making a promise not to something I didnât intend toâand where doing it would already harm me sociallyâdoesnât seem to add much beyond the value of stating my intentions (and the statement could still be a lie).
Totally agreed. Low-key one of my pet peeves is that most commitments are not precommitments.
Hello partner! ;)