Newcomb's Paradox, aka Newcomb's Problem. Box A contains $1000, and Box B contains either nothing or $1 million. You can choose only Box B or choose both Box A and Box B. However, several days ago, a predictor with an excellent track record made a prediction of what your choice will be. If the predictor predicted that you will choose both boxes, he put nothing in box B. If the predictor predicted that you will choose only Box B, he filled the box with $1 million. Box B was then sealed, and its contents will remain fixed regardless of what you choose. What should you do? (Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Agustín Rayo
Owain R. Evans
(Teaching Assistant)
MIT Course Number
24.118
As Taught In
Spring 2013
Level
Undergraduate
Course Description
Course Features
Course Description
This course explores different kinds of infinity; the paradoxes of set theory; the reduction of arithmetic to logic; formal systems; paradoxes involving the concept of truth; Gödel’s incompleteness theorems; the nonformalizable nature of mathematical truth; and Turing machines.