I wrote this because I am increasingly noticing that the rules for “which worlds to keep in mind/optimize” are often quite different from “which worlds my spreadsheets say are the most likely worlds”. And that this is in conflict with my heuristics which would’ve said “optimize the world-models in your head for being the most accurate ones – the ones that will give you the most accurate answers to most questions” rather than something like “optimize the world-models in your head for being the most useful ones”.
(Though the true answer is some more complicated function combining both practical utility and map-territory correspondence.)
I’m not sure I understand what’s confusing about this.
I will note that what is confusing to one person need not be confusing to another person. In my experience it is a common state of affairs for one person in a conversation to be confused and the other not (whether it be because the latter person is pre-confused, post-confused, or simply because their path to understanding a phenomena didn’t pass through the state of their interlocutor).
It seems probable to me that I have found this subject more confusing than have others.
I wrote this because I am increasingly noticing that the rules for “which worlds to keep in mind/optimize” are often quite different from “which worlds my spreadsheets say are the most likely worlds”. And that this is in conflict with my heuristics which would’ve said “optimize the world-models in your head for being the most accurate ones – the ones that will give you the most accurate answers to most questions” rather than something like “optimize the world-models in your head for being the most useful ones”.
(Though the true answer is some more complicated function combining both practical utility and map-territory correspondence.)
I will note that what is confusing to one person need not be confusing to another person. In my experience it is a common state of affairs for one person in a conversation to be confused and the other not (whether it be because the latter person is pre-confused, post-confused, or simply because their path to understanding a phenomena didn’t pass through the state of their interlocutor).
It seems probable to me that I have found this subject more confusing than have others.