On hydrodynamic variables/predictability: I (like probably many others before me) rediscovered what sounds like a similar basic idea in a slightly different context, and my sense is that this is somewhat different from what John has in mind, though I’d guess there are connections. See here for some vague musings. When I talked to John about this, I think he said he’s deliberately doing something different from the predictability-definition (though I might have misunderstood). He’s definitely aware of similar ideas in a causality context, though it sounds like the physics version might contain additional ideas
Thanks for that overview and the references!
On hydrodynamic variables/predictability: I (like probably many others before me) rediscovered what sounds like a similar basic idea in a slightly different context, and my sense is that this is somewhat different from what John has in mind, though I’d guess there are connections. See here for some vague musings. When I talked to John about this, I think he said he’s deliberately doing something different from the predictability-definition (though I might have misunderstood). He’s definitely aware of similar ideas in a causality context, though it sounds like the physics version might contain additional ideas
John has several lenses on natural abtractions:
natural abstraction as information-at-a-distance
natural abstraction = redundant & latent representation of information
natural abstraction = convergent abstraction for ‘broad’ class of minds
the thing that felt closest to me to the Quantum Darwinism story that Jess was talking about as the ’redudant/ latent story, e.g. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/N2JcFZ3LCCsnK2Fep/the-minimal-latents-approach-to-natural-abstractions and https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dWQWzGCSFj6GTZHz7/natural-latents-the-math