Chapter Seven: Paradox

"Newcomb's Paradox." I looked it up. It's a thought experiment.

Imagine there is someone that can predict the future with 99.99% accuracy. "The Predictor" they are called. Then imagine there are two boxes in front of you, the Player of Games. Box A and Box B. The Player is allowed to take one or both boxes. Box A always has a thousand dollars in it. However, Box B might or might not have a million dollars in it. It all depends on what the Predictor predicts.

If the Predictor predicts that the Player will take both boxes, Box B will have nothing. If the Predictor predicts the Player will only take Box B, it will contain a million dollars.

It seems simple, right? Take both. Take both and you will either get a thousand or a million and a thousand. If the Predictor is wrong. But the Predictor has always been right.

The Player does not know the prediction. The prediction cannot be changed once the game is in play.

Now imagine that instead of money, inside the boxes contains the Player's fate. Life and death. One choice leads to everything working out fine, the other leads to a horrible and quite painful death.

I think I am the Player.

I need to play the game.