There is another way under which we can consider reference to fiction in a “serious” conversation : a method of lossy compression. Fully explaining the hypothesis of living in a virtual world is complex, and takes time. Saying “you saw Matrix ?” is simple and fast. The same way referring to “Asimov robots” is quicker than explaining the concept of benevolent robots who just can’t attack humans, and how even with very strict rules, it’s not in fact really perfect (from the Solarian robots who attacked people who didn’t have the Solarian accent because they had a restrictive definition of humans, to the robot manipulated to put poison in a glass and another one to give the glass to a human, …).
The work of Asimov isn’t evidence that such robots can be built, nor that there is no way to put perfect safeguards, but it allows to transmit the whole concept in a few words instead of requiring hours.
But as every lossy compression, it introduces noise. Reading LW, I realize I underestimated the noise generated by this compression, I wasn’t aware of the scope of contamination and anchoring effects (I had some kind of intuition that they did exist, but I greatly underestimated their importance). So I’ll be more prudent in the future in using that compression algorithm, which is very efficient as a compression (can lead to more than 100x compression ratio) but also very noisy.
One thing I’ve used is “Imagine the Matrix, except think about if for five minutes, and change it to remove the ridiculous parts of the idea.” It allows them to get a cleaner version of your idea, but requires them to be pretty smart.
“The original plot for the Matrix called for the humans’ brains to be used as powerful computers to run all the software—that was why anyone plugged in could become an Agent—but someone at Warner Bros decided people weren’t that clever. Besides, our body heat is nowhere near as efficient as nuclear power. Anyway! The Matrix ….”
This is how I start simulation arguments off on a good footing. Peoples’ minds are a little blown by such a sensible version of the Matrix, so they’re more accepting...
The original plot for the Matrix called for the humans’ brains to be used as powerful computers to run all the software—that was why anyone plugged in could become an Agent—but someone at Warner Bros decided people weren’t that clever. Besides, our body heat is nowhere near as efficient as nuclear power. Anyway! The Matrix ….
Are you serious? Why did they change it? That version would have been sooo much more awesome. (Cries.)
There is another way under which we can consider reference to fiction in a “serious” conversation : a method of lossy compression. Fully explaining the hypothesis of living in a virtual world is complex, and takes time. Saying “you saw Matrix ?” is simple and fast. The same way referring to “Asimov robots” is quicker than explaining the concept of benevolent robots who just can’t attack humans, and how even with very strict rules, it’s not in fact really perfect (from the Solarian robots who attacked people who didn’t have the Solarian accent because they had a restrictive definition of humans, to the robot manipulated to put poison in a glass and another one to give the glass to a human, …).
The work of Asimov isn’t evidence that such robots can be built, nor that there is no way to put perfect safeguards, but it allows to transmit the whole concept in a few words instead of requiring hours.
But as every lossy compression, it introduces noise. Reading LW, I realize I underestimated the noise generated by this compression, I wasn’t aware of the scope of contamination and anchoring effects (I had some kind of intuition that they did exist, but I greatly underestimated their importance). So I’ll be more prudent in the future in using that compression algorithm, which is very efficient as a compression (can lead to more than 100x compression ratio) but also very noisy.
One thing I’ve used is “Imagine the Matrix, except think about if for five minutes, and change it to remove the ridiculous parts of the idea.” It allows them to get a cleaner version of your idea, but requires them to be pretty smart.
“The original plot for the Matrix called for the humans’ brains to be used as powerful computers to run all the software—that was why anyone plugged in could become an Agent—but someone at Warner Bros decided people weren’t that clever. Besides, our body heat is nowhere near as efficient as nuclear power. Anyway! The Matrix ….”
This is how I start simulation arguments off on a good footing. Peoples’ minds are a little blown by such a sensible version of the Matrix, so they’re more accepting...
Do you have a citation for this? This isn’t mentioned in the Wikipedia article on the movie.
No citation, not even sure it’s real. TV Tropes told me, and I thought it was cool and sensible enough to pretend it was true.
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WetwareCPU ctrl-F Matrix
(Bare link only to trivially inconvenience you)
Are you serious? Why did they change it? That version would have been sooo much more awesome. (Cries.)
Because viewers are morons.