Saying “X is logically possible” bears the conversational implication that X is worth considering—it raises X to conscious attention. But when we’re talking about physical possibility, “logically possible” is the wrong criterion for raising hypotheses to conscious attention, because epistemological limitations imply that every hypothesis is logically possible. Given that we have good physical reasons to draw the opposite conclusion in this case, it is generally a mistake to emphasize the possibility.
Ah, I see what you’re getting at. But it is not that I was trying to emphasize the possibility that there cannot be non-human minds in order to argue in favor of that hypothesis. Rather, I was pointing out that whether CEV is ‘relative’ or not (for purposes of this discussion) is an empirical question. For reference, I would not guess that non-human minds are physically impossible (I’d assign significantly less than 10% probability to that hypothesis).
Saying “X is logically possible” bears the conversational implication that X is worth considering—it raises X to conscious attention. But when we’re talking about physical possibility, “logically possible” is the wrong criterion for raising hypotheses to conscious attention, because epistemological limitations imply that every hypothesis is logically possible. Given that we have good physical reasons to draw the opposite conclusion in this case, it is generally a mistake to emphasize the possibility.
Ah, I see what you’re getting at. But it is not that I was trying to emphasize the possibility that there cannot be non-human minds in order to argue in favor of that hypothesis. Rather, I was pointing out that whether CEV is ‘relative’ or not (for purposes of this discussion) is an empirical question. For reference, I would not guess that non-human minds are physically impossible (I’d assign significantly less than 10% probability to that hypothesis).