TL;DR: using a simple mixed strategy, LDT can give in to threats, ultimatums, and commitments - while incentivizing cooperation and fair[1] splits instead.

This strategy made it much more intuitive to many people I've talked to that smart agents probably won't do weird everyone's-utility-eating things like threatening each other or participating in commitment races.

1. The Ultimatum game

This part is taken from planecrash[2][3].

You're in the Ultimatum game. You're offered 0-10 dollars. You can accept or reject the offer. If you accept, you get what's offered, and the offerer gets $(10-offer). If you reject, both you and the offerer get nothing.

The simplest strategy that incentivizes fair splits is to accept everything ≥ 5 and reject everything < 5. The offerer can't do better than by offering you 5. If you accepted offers of 1, the offerer that knows this would always offer you 1 and get 9 [...]

---

Outline:

(00:28) 1. The Ultimatum game

(06:17) 2. Threats, commitments, and ultimatums

(06:41) 2.1 Game of Chicken

(07:41) 2.2 Stones

(08:00) 2.3 What if I dont know the other players payoffs?

(08:25) 2.4 What if the other player makes a commitment before I make any decisions?

The original text contained 3 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

---

First published:
September 12th, 2024

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/TXbFFYpNWDmEmHevp/how-to-give-in-to-threats-without-incentivizing-them

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“How to give in to threats (without incentivizing them) ” by Mikhail Samin

LessWrong (30+ Karma)