Even though it has a technical meaning, I think “unitary wavefunction evolution” would be worse for communication than “Greebo.”
I suspect you are right. This leaves me with ‘Greebo’, ‘QM without collapse’ or, I could just say ‘quantum mechanics’ and choose not to talk to people about such topics when they persist in advocating a collapse beyond the first time they hear it isn’t necessary.
This made me chuckle. I suppose that as the intelligence and amount of knowledge held by the average member of an intellectual group goes up, their lower bounds on the amount of knowledge someone must have in order for that member to have an intellectual conversation with them goes up as well. I’m horrible at communicating clearly, so I’ll give an example.
4chan poster: You’re a scientologist!? Idiot. RationalWiki member: You’re a creationist?! I refuse to speak to you. Less Wrong member: You insist that there is such thing as waveform collapse in quantum mechanics?! I see you cannot be saved.
Creationists I can accept. Ardent ‘qualia’ and ‘philosophical zombie’ advocates on the other hand I will not speak with. Creationists often acknowledge that their beliefs are based on faith. ‘Qualia’ folks are more likely to claim philosophical or intellectual authority, invoking my eternal contempt. This ties back in with your original point: it’s about having intellectual conversations. For me at least it is those encroaching on intellectual territory in particular that must be held to higher standards.
That’s a good point. I’ve never actually interacted with someone in real life that even knew what philosophical zombies were, so my ‘intellectual’ conversations take place along the lines of ‘atheism versus theism’, sadly. Maybe there is some merit to joining Mensa after all?
Maybe there is some merit to joining Mensa after all?
Do you like debating? That is, do you like throwing about very clever non-sequiturs and a whole bunch of straw men to prove your high status amongst a tribe of high IQ monkeys?
I’ve let my membership lapse. I keep in touch with some of the guys to play games with but the MENSA around here is mostly an online thing and decidedly inferior to lesswrong as far as intellectual stimulation goes. Although I must admit some of the Mensa guys were great to get business and professional advice from.
Well, if the people spitting out the clever non-sequiturs have charming British accents, then possibly. Otherwise, no… is Mensa about ‘debating’, normally? I always figured it’d be more of a casual social meet-up. But even then I suppose it could quickly dissolve into a mere signalling competition, or a ‘debate’.
That works.
I suspect you are right. This leaves me with ‘Greebo’, ‘QM without collapse’ or, I could just say ‘quantum mechanics’ and choose not to talk to people about such topics when they persist in advocating a collapse beyond the first time they hear it isn’t necessary.
This made me chuckle. I suppose that as the intelligence and amount of knowledge held by the average member of an intellectual group goes up, their lower bounds on the amount of knowledge someone must have in order for that member to have an intellectual conversation with them goes up as well.
I’m horrible at communicating clearly, so I’ll give an example.
4chan poster: You’re a scientologist!? Idiot.
RationalWiki member: You’re a creationist?! I refuse to speak to you.
Less Wrong member: You insist that there is such thing as waveform collapse in quantum mechanics?! I see you cannot be saved.
Creationists I can accept. Ardent ‘qualia’ and ‘philosophical zombie’ advocates on the other hand I will not speak with. Creationists often acknowledge that their beliefs are based on faith. ‘Qualia’ folks are more likely to claim philosophical or intellectual authority, invoking my eternal contempt. This ties back in with your original point: it’s about having intellectual conversations. For me at least it is those encroaching on intellectual territory in particular that must be held to higher standards.
That’s a good point. I’ve never actually interacted with someone in real life that even knew what philosophical zombies were, so my ‘intellectual’ conversations take place along the lines of ‘atheism versus theism’, sadly. Maybe there is some merit to joining Mensa after all?
Do you like debating? That is, do you like throwing about very clever non-sequiturs and a whole bunch of straw men to prove your high status amongst a tribe of high IQ monkeys?
I’ve let my membership lapse. I keep in touch with some of the guys to play games with but the MENSA around here is mostly an online thing and decidedly inferior to lesswrong as far as intellectual stimulation goes. Although I must admit some of the Mensa guys were great to get business and professional advice from.
Well, if the people spitting out the clever non-sequiturs have charming British accents, then possibly. Otherwise, no… is Mensa about ‘debating’, normally? I always figured it’d be more of a casual social meet-up. But even then I suppose it could quickly dissolve into a mere signalling competition, or a ‘debate’.