However, this does not mean that it is impossible to speak of a relatively simple abstract theory of intelligence. This is because the latter theory aims to describe mindspace as a whole rather than describing a particular rather arbitrary point inside it.
[...]
Now, “rationality” and “intelligence” are in some sense even more fundumental than physics. Indeed, rationality is what tells us how to form correct beliefs, i.e. how to find the correct theory of physics. Looking an anthropic paradoxes, it is even arguable that making decisions is even more fundumental than forming beliefs (since anthropic paradoxes are situations in which assigning subjective probabilities seems meaningless but the correct decision is still well-defined via “functional decision theory” or something similar). Therefore, it seems like there has to be a simple theory of intelligence, even if specific instances of intelligence are complex by virtue of their adaptation to specific computational hardware, specific utility function (or maybe some more general concept of “values”), somewhat specific (although still fairly diverse) class of environments, and also by virtue of arbitrary flaws in their design (that are still mild enough to allow for intelligent behavior).
ricraz:
This feels more like a restatement of our disagreement than an argument. I do feel some of the force of this intuition, but I can also picture a world in which it’s not the case. Note that most of the reasoning humans do is not math-like, but rather a sort of intuitive inference where we draw links between different vague concepts and recognise useful patterns—something we’re nowhere near able to formalise. I plan to write a follow-up post which describes my reasons for being skeptical about rationality realism in more detail.
Vanessa Kosoy:
I don’t think it’s a mere restatement? I am trying to show that “rationality realism” is what you should expect based on Occam’s razor, which is a fundamental principle of reason. Possibly I just don’t understand your position. In particular, I don’t know what epistemology is like in the world you imagine. Maybe it’s a subject for your next essay.
ricraz:
Sorry, my response was a little lazy, but at the same time I’m finding it very difficult to figure out how to phrase a counterargument beyond simply saying that although intelligence does allow us to understand physics, it doesn’t seem to me that this implies it’s simple or fundamental. Maybe one relevant analogy: maths allows us to analyse tic-tac-toe, but maths is much more complex than tic-tac-toe. I understand that this is probably an unsatisfactory intuition from your perspective, but unfortunately don’t have time to think too much more about this now; will cover it in a follow-up.
I fall pretty strongly in ricraz’s camp, and I feel the same way, especially the sentence “I’m finding it very difficult to figure out how to phrase a counterargument beyond simply saying that although intelligence does allow us to understand physics, it doesn’t seem to me that this implies it’s simple or fundamental.”
It seems to me that the crux of that argument is the assumption that there is only one direction or axis in which something can be considered more fundamental than something else.
Rationality can be epistemologically basic, in that you need to be rational to arrive at physics, and physics can be ontologically basic in that rational agents are made of matter.
Sometimes the solution is to drop the framing that the two alternatives are actually rivalrous.
I don’t think that’s it. The inference I most disagree with is “rationality must have a simple core”, or “Occam’s razor works on rationality”. I’m sure there’s some meaning of “fundamental” or “epistemologically basic” such that I’d agree that rationality has that property, but that doesn’t entail “rationality has a simple core”.
Realism about rationality is an ongoing one for me that hasn’t yet gotten unstuck. See in particular Vanessa and ricraz:
Vanessa Kosoy:
ricraz:
Vanessa Kosoy:
ricraz:
I fall pretty strongly in ricraz’s camp, and I feel the same way, especially the sentence “I’m finding it very difficult to figure out how to phrase a counterargument beyond simply saying that although intelligence does allow us to understand physics, it doesn’t seem to me that this implies it’s simple or fundamental.”
It seems to me that the crux of that argument is the assumption that there is only one direction or axis in which something can be considered more fundamental than something else.
Rationality can be epistemologically basic, in that you need to be rational to arrive at physics, and physics can be ontologically basic in that rational agents are made of matter.
Sometimes the solution is to drop the framing that the two alternatives are actually rivalrous.
I don’t think that’s it. The inference I most disagree with is “rationality must have a simple core”, or “Occam’s razor works on rationality”. I’m sure there’s some meaning of “fundamental” or “epistemologically basic” such that I’d agree that rationality has that property, but that doesn’t entail “rationality has a simple core”.