Newcomb's paradox

  Predicted
choice
Actual
choice
 A + B
(B has $0) 		B
(B has $1,000,000)
A + B $1,000 $1,001,000
B $0 $1,000,000

In philosophy and mathematics, Newcomb's paradox, also known as Newcomb's problem, is a thought experiment involving a game between two players, one of whom is able to predict the future.

Newcomb's paradox was created by William Newcomb of the University of California's Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. However, it was first analyzed in a philosophy paper by Robert Nozick in 1969[1] and appeared in the March 1973 issue of Scientific American, in Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games".[2] Today it is a much debated problem in the philosophical branch of decision theory.[3]

  1. ^ Robert Nozick (1969). "Newcomb's Problem and Two Principles of Choice" (PDF). In Rescher, Nicholas (ed.). Essays in Honor of Carl G. Hempel. Springer. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-31.
  2. ^ Gardner, Martin (March 1974). "Mathematical Games". Scientific American. 231 (3): 102. Bibcode:1974SciAm.231c.187G. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0974-187. Reprinted with an addendum and annotated bibliography in his book The Colossal Book of Mathematics (ISBN 0-393-02023-1).
  3. ^ "Causal Decision Theory". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 3 February 2016.