One proven claim is worth a dozen compelling hypotheses
I will continue to be contrary and say I’m not sure I agree with this.
For one, I think in many domains new ideas are really hard to come by, as opposed to making minor progress in the existing paradigms. Fundamental theories in physics, a bunch of general insights about intelligence (in neuroscience and AI), etc.
And secondly, I am reminded of what Lukeprog wrote in his moral consciousness report, that he wished the various different philosophies-of-consciousness would stop debating each other, go away for a few decades, then come back with falsifiable predictions. I sometimes take this stance regarding many disagreements of import, such as the basic science vs engineering approaches to AI alignment. It’s not obvious to me that the correct next move is for e.g. Eliezer and Paul to debate for 1000 hours, but instead to go away and work on their ideas for a decade then come back with lots of fleshed out details and results that can be more meaningfully debated.
I feel similarly about simulacra levels, Embedded Agency, and a bunch of IFS stuff. I would like to see more experimentation and literature reviews where they make sense, but I also feel like these are implicitly making substantive and interesting claims about the world, and I’d just be interested in getting a better sense of what claims they’re making, and have them fleshed out + operationalized more. That would be a lot of progress to me, and I think each of them is seeing that sort of work (with Zvi, Abram, and Kaj respectively leading the charges on LW, alongside many others).
I think I’m concretely worried that some of those models / paradigms (and some other ones on LW) don’t seem pointed in a direction that leads obviously to “make falsifiable predictions.”
And I can imagine worlds where “make falsifiable predictions” isn’t the right next step, you need to play around with it more and get it fleshed out in your head before you can do that. But there is at least some writing on LW that feels to me like it leaps from “come up with an interesting idea” to “try to persuade people it’s correct” without enough checking.
(In the case of IFS, I think Kaj’s sequence is doing a great job of laying it out in a concrete way where it can then be meaningfully disagreed with. But the other people who’ve been playing around with IFS didn’t really seem interested in that, and I feel like we got lucky that Kaj had the time and interest to do so.)
I feel like this comment isn’t critiquing a position I actually hold. For example, I don’t believe that “the correct next move is for e.g. Eliezer and Paul to debate for 1000 hours”. I am happy for people to work towards building evidence for their hypotheses in many ways, including fleshing out details, engaging with existing literature, experimentation, and operationalisation.
Perhaps this makes “proven claim” a misleading phrase to use. Perhaps more accurate to say: “one fully fleshed out theory is more valuable than a dozen intuitively compelling ideas”. But having said that, I doubt that it’s possible to fully flesh out a theory like simulacra levels without engaging with a bunch of academic literature and then making predictions.
I will continue to be contrary and say I’m not sure I agree with this.
For one, I think in many domains new ideas are really hard to come by, as opposed to making minor progress in the existing paradigms. Fundamental theories in physics, a bunch of general insights about intelligence (in neuroscience and AI), etc.
And secondly, I am reminded of what Lukeprog wrote in his moral consciousness report, that he wished the various different philosophies-of-consciousness would stop debating each other, go away for a few decades, then come back with falsifiable predictions. I sometimes take this stance regarding many disagreements of import, such as the basic science vs engineering approaches to AI alignment. It’s not obvious to me that the correct next move is for e.g. Eliezer and Paul to debate for 1000 hours, but instead to go away and work on their ideas for a decade then come back with lots of fleshed out details and results that can be more meaningfully debated.
I feel similarly about simulacra levels, Embedded Agency, and a bunch of IFS stuff. I would like to see more experimentation and literature reviews where they make sense, but I also feel like these are implicitly making substantive and interesting claims about the world, and I’d just be interested in getting a better sense of what claims they’re making, and have them fleshed out + operationalized more. That would be a lot of progress to me, and I think each of them is seeing that sort of work (with Zvi, Abram, and Kaj respectively leading the charges on LW, alongside many others).
I think I’m concretely worried that some of those models / paradigms (and some other ones on LW) don’t seem pointed in a direction that leads obviously to “make falsifiable predictions.”
And I can imagine worlds where “make falsifiable predictions” isn’t the right next step, you need to play around with it more and get it fleshed out in your head before you can do that. But there is at least some writing on LW that feels to me like it leaps from “come up with an interesting idea” to “try to persuade people it’s correct” without enough checking.
(In the case of IFS, I think Kaj’s sequence is doing a great job of laying it out in a concrete way where it can then be meaningfully disagreed with. But the other people who’ve been playing around with IFS didn’t really seem interested in that, and I feel like we got lucky that Kaj had the time and interest to do so.)
I feel like this comment isn’t critiquing a position I actually hold. For example, I don’t believe that “the correct next move is for e.g. Eliezer and Paul to debate for 1000 hours”. I am happy for people to work towards building evidence for their hypotheses in many ways, including fleshing out details, engaging with existing literature, experimentation, and operationalisation.
Perhaps this makes “proven claim” a misleading phrase to use. Perhaps more accurate to say: “one fully fleshed out theory is more valuable than a dozen intuitively compelling ideas”. But having said that, I doubt that it’s possible to fully flesh out a theory like simulacra levels without engaging with a bunch of academic literature and then making predictions.
I also agree with Raemon’s response below.