Bonus? The 10-Finger Demon

4 Responses to Bonus? The 10-Finger Demon

1. onekirne says:

   November 10, 2024 at 7:35 pm

   Thanks for sharing this, it was very interesting and touching to hear.

   One thing I find interesting about the ten finger thought experiment is how much easier it would be if you could take those ten fingers from someone else

   But I don’t know, maybe it is just me, but I also have some hangups making a sacrifice that I will have to experience, while for the rewards you have to trust in the existence of other minds, that the world is not just an illusion. Especially if you’re meeting some weirdo demon, seems fake.

   Wishing you good luck with becoming more optimistic again.

   Reply
2. Frank says:

   November 16, 2024 at 3:56 am

   First, a question:
   The rule of “no inflation” means, that lots of physical goods and whole parts of earth appear to balance out the gain of such huge amounts of money?

   Then advice, on not taking any deal offered by a demon:
   The offer might be a trap. Not in our world, but if everyone maximizes the outcome for the greater good, giving 10 fingers for unbelievable monetary wealth, mankind falls into this trap. The podcast host seemed sad for not doing the “rational” thing, but let me explain, why it can be irrational to maximize fingers spent on money gained, i.e. the offer being worse than you think.

   The trap goes like this:
   In a world of rationalists, the demon makes the same offer to everyone at the same time.
   Everyone loses all fingers and gains unprecedented wealth.
   According to the no-inflation rule, someone still has to offer all the wares and services.
   Selling them, so fulfilling an offer, will be quite hard for things like hand-dependent jobs.

   Is that still maintaining the no inflation rule?

   Does a subservient specias spawn into existance to actually deliver anything at old market price?

   The whole rule makes no sense, because 10 trillion dollars of purchasing power you can spend on stuff as an individual will always cause a market shift toward what you choose to buy.

   Reply
3. Frank (Addendum) says:

   November 16, 2024 at 4:13 am

   PS
   The demon of course only springs the trap, i.e. concludes all deals, if every single one says “all fingers shall go”. If a sufficient number of digits[ˆ1] remains, not a single deal is fulfilled. So instead of doings the deal that would be a net boon, they all will not be concluded.

   Another weird idea about the phrasing of making a deal with a demon:
   Does zero giving zero fingers yield zero dollars; but as a contract, you did conclude the deal? Does dealing with demons have other implications, like not reaching an afterlife? Or condemn you to a worse one?

   TL;DR:
   Don’t Deal with demons.
   Ask Wyll, on Why!

   ——-
   Footnotes:
   1: Digit as in latin word for finger. Significant digits, the HPMOR follow-up book, should be on this.

   Reply

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