The claim was that, if there exists a bit, such that if that bit was struck by a cosmic ray, then for an agent which would be “safe” in a universe without cosmic rays, would become “unsafe” then, as cosmic rays exist, no agent may be “safe” with “probability 1″, as that would require it to not be stuck by cosmic rays with “probability 1”.
They’re saying we can’t be sure it won’t be hit by cosmic rays. This was meant not as a worry about cosmic rays, but to say they were interested in how you go about making “safe* agent/s” in a universe without inconvenient things like cosmic rays which keep the probability from being 1, but are otherwise unrelated to the work of making “safe agent/s”.
*Might be talking about things other than “safety” as well.
The claim was that, if there exists a bit, such that if that bit was struck by a cosmic ray, then for an agent which would be “safe” in a universe without cosmic rays, would become “unsafe” then, as cosmic rays exist, no agent may be “safe” with “probability 1″, as that would require it to not be stuck by cosmic rays with “probability 1”.
They’re saying we can’t be sure it won’t be hit by cosmic rays. This was meant not as a worry about cosmic rays, but to say they were interested in how you go about making “safe* agent/s” in a universe without inconvenient things like cosmic rays which keep the probability from being 1, but are otherwise unrelated to the work of making “safe agent/s”.
*Might be talking about things other than “safety” as well.