Fredkin's paradox
Fredkin's paradox is a thought experiment that is used to think about the way computer programs and robots make decisions. The thought experiment is named after Marvin Fredkin, the scientist who thought it up.
In the thought experiment, we imagine a robot (which can be like a computer program) that can make decisions. It needs to decide which door to open - door 1 or door 2. Behind each door is either a reward or something bad, and the robot needs to decide which one to choose.
The paradox comes in when we think about how the robot should decide which door to open. If it looks at just the rewards, it might choose door 1, because it looks like it has the better reward. But, when the robot looks at both rewards together, it realizes that door 1 has the same reward as door 2, so it doesn't really matter which one it chooses.
The paradox is that even if the robot knows that both doors have the same reward, it still has to make a decision between the two. So, even though it knows both doors are the same, it still has to choose one - it can't just not choose and stay in the same place.
So, even though the robot knows both doors are the same, it still has to make a decision, and that decision could be based on all sorts of things, like random chance or whatever you programmed it to choose.
In the thought experiment, we imagine a robot (which can be like a computer program) that can make decisions. It needs to decide which door to open - door 1 or door 2. Behind each door is either a reward or something bad, and the robot needs to decide which one to choose.
The paradox comes in when we think about how the robot should decide which door to open. If it looks at just the rewards, it might choose door 1, because it looks like it has the better reward. But, when the robot looks at both rewards together, it realizes that door 1 has the same reward as door 2, so it doesn't really matter which one it chooses.
The paradox is that even if the robot knows that both doors have the same reward, it still has to make a decision between the two. So, even though it knows both doors are the same, it still has to choose one - it can't just not choose and stay in the same place.
So, even though the robot knows both doors are the same, it still has to make a decision, and that decision could be based on all sorts of things, like random chance or whatever you programmed it to choose.
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