Posts from ‘March, 2012’

Question: Two Boxes Answer: Ben Hartnett ’14 While I can only speak with a limited amount of certainty, I believe that it is fair to assume that most individuals wish to maximize their gain as much as possible. It also seems that most people prefer a guaranty over a chance. In the case of the [...]

Question: Two Boxes Answer: Luke Schroeder ’13 This is a tricky question, as all good trick questions are. The key to answering this question comes from keeping basic rules of causation in order. In this case, the experimenter’s prediction has no necessary causal power over the subject’s choice. It is true: the experimenter has an [...]

As the thousandth participant in a philosophy experiment, you’re shown two boxes and given a choice. You can see that Box A, which is open, contains $1000. You’re told that Box B, whose contents you can’t see, contains either $1 million or nothing. You can choose either to take Box B only or to take [...]