Hm. It’s unfortunate that I need to pass all of my ideas through a Nick Tarleton or a Steve Rayhawk before they’re fit for general consumption. I’ll try to rewrite that whole comment when I’m less tired.
Consider that one of my two posts, Abnormal Cryonics, was simply a narrower version of what I wrote above (structural uncertainty is highly underestimated) and that Nick Tarleton wrote about a third of that post. He understood what I meant and was able to convey it better than I could. Also, Nick Tarleton is quick to call bullshit if something I’m saying doesn’t seem to be meaningful, which is a wonderful trait.
Thanks! But it seems you’re being needlessly abrasive about it. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing? Anyway, did you read the expanded version of my comment? I tried to be clearer in my explanation there, but it’s hard to convey philosophical intuitions.
The problem with that idea is that there is no default level of belief. You are not allowed to say
These are of course ridiculous ideas, but ridiculous ideas that I am nonetheless hesitant to assign negligible probability to.
What is the difference between hesitating to assign negligible probability vs. to assign non-negligible probability? Which way is the certainty, which way is doubt? If you don’t have good understanding of why you should believe one way or the other, you can’t appoint a direction where safe level of credence lies and stay there pending the enlightenment.
Your argument is not strong enough to shift the belief of one in septillion up to something believable, but your argument must be that strong to do it. You can’t appeal to being hesitant to believe otherwise, it’s not a strong argument, but a statement about not having one.
Was your point that Eliezer’s Everett Branch is weird enough already that it shouldn’t be that surprising if universally improbable things have occurred?
Whowha?
Er, sorry, I’m guessing my comment came across as word salad?
Added: Rephrased and expanded and polemicized my original comment in a reply to my original comment.
Yeah I didn’t get it either.
Hm. It’s unfortunate that I need to pass all of my ideas through a Nick Tarleton or a Steve Rayhawk before they’re fit for general consumption. I’ll try to rewrite that whole comment when I’m less tired.
Illusion of transparency: they can probably generate sense in response to anything, but it’s not necessarily faithful translation of what you say.
Consider that one of my two posts, Abnormal Cryonics, was simply a narrower version of what I wrote above (structural uncertainty is highly underestimated) and that Nick Tarleton wrote about a third of that post. He understood what I meant and was able to convey it better than I could. Also, Nick Tarleton is quick to call bullshit if something I’m saying doesn’t seem to be meaningful, which is a wonderful trait.
Well, that was me calling bullshit.
Thanks! But it seems you’re being needlessly abrasive about it. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing? Anyway, did you read the expanded version of my comment? I tried to be clearer in my explanation there, but it’s hard to convey philosophical intuitions.
I find myself unable to clearly articulate what’s wrong with your idea, but in my own words, it reads as follows:
“One should believe certain things to be probable because those are the kinds of things that people believe through magical thinking.”
The problem with that idea is that there is no default level of belief. You are not allowed to say
What is the difference between hesitating to assign negligible probability vs. to assign non-negligible probability? Which way is the certainty, which way is doubt? If you don’t have good understanding of why you should believe one way or the other, you can’t appoint a direction where safe level of credence lies and stay there pending the enlightenment.
Your argument is not strong enough to shift the belief of one in septillion up to something believable, but your argument must be that strong to do it. You can’t appeal to being hesitant to believe otherwise, it’s not a strong argument, but a statement about not having one.
Was your point that Eliezer’s Everett Branch is weird enough already that it shouldn’t be that surprising if universally improbable things have occurred?
Erm, uh, kinda, in a more general sense. See my reply to my own comment where I try to be more expository.
I’m afraid it is word salad.