“ASHLEY: Uh, but you didn’t actually use the notion of computational simplicity to get that conclusion; you just required that the supply of probability mass is finite and the supply of potential complications is infinite. Any way of counting discrete complications would imply that conclusion, even if it went by surface wheels and gears.
“BLAINE: Well, maybe. But it so happens that Yudkowsky did invent or reinvent that argument after pondering Solomonoff induction, and if it predates him (or Solomonoff) then Yudkowsky doesn’t know the source. Concrete inspiration for simplified arguments is also a credit to a theory, especially if the simplified argument didn’t exist before that.
“ASHLEY: Fair enough.”
I think Ashley deserves an answer to “the objection “[a]ny way of counting discrete complications would imply that conclusion, even if it went by surface wheels and gears”, not a claim about who invented what first!
I think Ashley deserves an answer to “the objection “[a]ny way of counting discrete complications would imply that conclusion, even if it went by surface wheels and gears”, not a claim about who invented what first!