Do you require only that an argument exists, or do you require that the agent recognizes the argument, or something in-between?
The second one I think. The epiphany is sometimes characterized by frustration ‘why didn’t I think of that sooner?’
The optimal chess game (assuming it’s unique) might proceed from the rules, but we might never know it. Even if I have the algorithm (say in pseudocode)
If I don’t have it in code, I might not run it
If I have it code, but don’t have the compute (or sufficiently efficient techniques) I might not find out what happens when I run it for long enough
If I have the code, and the compute, then it’s just a matter of running it.* But do I get around to it?
Understanding implication isn’t usually as simple as I made it out to be above. People can work hard on a problem, and not find the answer for a lot of reasons—even if they have everything they need to know to solve it. Because they also have a lot of other information, and before they have the answer, they don’t know what is, and what isn’t relevant.
In other words, where implication is trivial and fast, reflection may be trivial and fast. If not...
The proof I never find does not move me.
*After getting the right version of the programming language downloaded, and working properly, just to do this one thing.
The second one I think. The epiphany is sometimes characterized by frustration ‘why didn’t I think of that sooner?’
The optimal chess game (assuming it’s unique) might proceed from the rules, but we might never know it. Even if I have the algorithm (say in pseudocode)
If I don’t have it in code, I might not run it
If I have it code, but don’t have the compute (or sufficiently efficient techniques) I might not find out what happens when I run it for long enough
If I have the code, and the compute, then it’s just a matter of running it.* But do I get around to it?
Understanding implication isn’t usually as simple as I made it out to be above. People can work hard on a problem, and not find the answer for a lot of reasons—even if they have everything they need to know to solve it. Because they also have a lot of other information, and before they have the answer, they don’t know what is, and what isn’t relevant.
In other words, where implication is trivial and fast, reflection may be trivial and fast. If not...
The proof I never find does not move me.
*After getting the right version of the programming language downloaded, and working properly, just to do this one thing.