Upon first reading, I honestly thought this post was either a joke or a semantic trick (e.g., assuming the scientists were themselves perfect Bayesians which would require some “There are blue-eyed people” reasoning).
Because theories that can make accurate forecasts are a small fraction of theories that can make accurate hindcasts, the Bayesian weight has to be on the first guy.
In my mind, I see this visually as the first guy projecting a surface that contains the first 10 observations into the future and it intersecting with the actual future. The second guy just wrapped a surface around his present (which contains the first guy’s future). Who says he projected it in the right direction?
But then I’m not as smart as Eliezer and could have missed something.
Upon first reading, I honestly thought this post was either a joke or a semantic trick (e.g., assuming the scientists were themselves perfect Bayesians which would require some “There are blue-eyed people” reasoning).
Because theories that can make accurate forecasts are a small fraction of theories that can make accurate hindcasts, the Bayesian weight has to be on the first guy.
In my mind, I see this visually as the first guy projecting a surface that contains the first 10 observations into the future and it intersecting with the actual future. The second guy just wrapped a surface around his present (which contains the first guy’s future). Who says he projected it in the right direction?
But then I’m not as smart as Eliezer and could have missed something.