Hi. I’ve been reading and posting here for 3 weeks or so, and am working my way through the sequences, so it’s time to introduce myself.
My full nym is Perplexed in Peoria (PiP for short.) I am a retired computer engineer (software simulation of hardware designs). My checkered undergrad career included majors in chemistry, physics, poly sci, and finally economics. My recent reading interests include molecular biology, evolutionary biology, formal logic, philosophy, game theory, and abiogenesis. Currently I am reading Pearl on Causality, Wimsatt on philosophy, and Eliezer on whatever. I am of the opinion that WVO Quine has a lot to answer for. I recently bought a Mac and an iPad.
I hope to begin posting here within a few months on topics of rationality, decision theory, and game theory. My first posting is planned to be on an axiomatic/intuitive foundation for subjective probability which I hope is easier to understand and thus more convincing than Jaynes’s Chapter 2 using Cox’s theorem. I am currently fairly skeptical regarding the Singularity.
Edit and PS: Oh, I got here by way of a comment in a science blog—Jerry Coynes’s, I think. About a month ago, there was a flurry of discussion and wooly thinking about Free Will out there in the blogosphere, and someone left the comment that the problem had been dissolved here. So I checked, and found that I pretty much agreed with the (dis)solution.
You recently bought a Mac? (must control Linux and computer building evangelism...)
Anyway, welcome. I look forward to your post, and seeing your reasons for doubting the possibility of singularity. With my limited research so far, I am nearly certain it is inevitable, if not imminent.
Now I need to go rant on a computer hardware site to get expensive pre-built computers out of my system.…
Also bought a Ubuntu disk and book, intending to go dual-boot on the Mac, but haven’t installed it yet. Yeah, the Mac cost too much, but I bought it because I had never owned an Apple and I have worked with a variety of Unix systems. Currently, I am trying for nerdish breadth rather than depth. And having built an Altair, my computer
build-it-yourself hunger is already satiated.
I recently published my FOOM-denialist rant as a comment on the “Why trust SIAI” thread. But that was two days ago. I don’t much agree with what I wrote there. The singularity seems to me to be much closer now.
I recently published my FOOM-denialist rant as a comment on the “Why trust SIAI” thread. But that was two days ago. I don’t much agree with what I wrote there. The singularity seems to me to be much closer now.
An LW semi-tradition I try to encourage: When one changes one’s mind after a discussion, go back and add a note to the original post stating your new position and what led you to change it. Hopefully this will help us build a map of what arguments are correct and convincing.
I try to always upvote such things. Changing your mind should be a party.
My first posting is planned to be on an axiomatic/intuitive foundation for subjective probability which I hope is easier to understand and thus more convincing than Jaynes’s Chapter 2 using Cox’s theorem
this would be very welcome, as I just read that chapter.
Hi. I’ve been reading and posting here for 3 weeks or so, and am working my way through the sequences, so it’s time to introduce myself.
My full nym is Perplexed in Peoria (PiP for short.) I am a retired computer engineer (software simulation of hardware designs). My checkered undergrad career included majors in chemistry, physics, poly sci, and finally economics. My recent reading interests include molecular biology, evolutionary biology, formal logic, philosophy, game theory, and abiogenesis. Currently I am reading Pearl on Causality, Wimsatt on philosophy, and Eliezer on whatever. I am of the opinion that WVO Quine has a lot to answer for. I recently bought a Mac and an iPad.
I hope to begin posting here within a few months on topics of rationality, decision theory, and game theory. My first posting is planned to be on an axiomatic/intuitive foundation for subjective probability which I hope is easier to understand and thus more convincing than Jaynes’s Chapter 2 using Cox’s theorem. I am currently fairly skeptical regarding the Singularity.
Edit and PS: Oh, I got here by way of a comment in a science blog—Jerry Coynes’s, I think. About a month ago, there was a flurry of discussion and wooly thinking about Free Will out there in the blogosphere, and someone left the comment that the problem had been dissolved here. So I checked, and found that I pretty much agreed with the (dis)solution.
You recently bought a Mac? (must control Linux and computer building evangelism...) Anyway, welcome. I look forward to your post, and seeing your reasons for doubting the possibility of singularity. With my limited research so far, I am nearly certain it is inevitable, if not imminent. Now I need to go rant on a computer hardware site to get expensive pre-built computers out of my system.…
Also bought a Ubuntu disk and book, intending to go dual-boot on the Mac, but haven’t installed it yet. Yeah, the Mac cost too much, but I bought it because I had never owned an Apple and I have worked with a variety of Unix systems. Currently, I am trying for nerdish breadth rather than depth. And having built an Altair, my computer build-it-yourself hunger is already satiated.
I recently published my FOOM-denialist rant as a comment on the “Why trust SIAI” thread. But that was two days ago. I don’t much agree with what I wrote there. The singularity seems to me to be much closer now.
An LW semi-tradition I try to encourage: When one changes one’s mind after a discussion, go back and add a note to the original post stating your new position and what led you to change it. Hopefully this will help us build a map of what arguments are correct and convincing.
I try to always upvote such things. Changing your mind should be a party.
I edited the rant adding my second thoughts.
Thx for reminding me to do so.
this would be very welcome, as I just read that chapter.