If you are a superscientist, there is nothing you can learn from running a programme that you cannot get from examining the code.
This seems trivially false.
The implicit assumption I inferred from the claim made it:
If you are a superscientist, there is nothing you can learn from running a programme [for some given non-infinite time] that you cannot get from examining the code [for a commensurate period of subjective time, including allowance for some computational overhead in those special cases where abstract analysis of the program provides no compression over just emulating it].”
That makes it trivially true. The trivially false seems to apply only when the ‘run the program’ alternative gets to do infinite computation but the ’be a superscientist and examine the program” doesn’t.
The trivially false seems to apply only when the ‘run the program’ alternative gets to do infinite computation
‘If the program you are looking at stops in less than T seconds, go into an infinite loop. Otherwise, stop.’ In order to avoid a contradiction the examiner program can’t reach a decision in less than T seconds (minus any time added by those instructions). Running a program for at most T seconds can trivially give you more info if you can’t wait any longer. I don’t know how much this matters in practice, but the “infinite” part at least seems wrong.
And again, the fact that the problem involves self-knowledge seems very relevant to this layman. (typo fixed)
More info than inspecting the code for at most T seconds. Finite examination time seems like a reasonable assumption.
I get the impression you’re reading more than I’m saying. If you want to get into the original topic we should probably forget the OP and discuss orthonormal’s mini-sequence.
I no longer have any clue what we’re talking about. Are superscientists computable? Do they seem likely to die in less than the lifespan of our (visible) universe? If not, why do we care about them?
The point is that you can’t say a person of unknown intelligence inspecting code for T seconds will necessarily conclude less than a computer of unknown power running the code for T seconds. You are comparing two unknowns.
The implicit assumption I inferred from the claim made it:
That makes it trivially true. The trivially false seems to apply only when the ‘run the program’ alternative gets to do infinite computation but the ’be a superscientist and examine the program” doesn’t.
My thoughts exactly.
‘If the program you are looking at stops in less than T seconds, go into an infinite loop. Otherwise, stop.’ In order to avoid a contradiction the examiner program can’t reach a decision in less than T seconds (minus any time added by those instructions). Running a program for at most T seconds can trivially give you more info if you can’t wait any longer. I don’t know how much this matters in practice, but the “infinite” part at least seems wrong.
And again, the fact that the problem involves self-knowledge seems very relevant to this layman. (typo fixed)
I don’t see anything particularly troubling for a superscientist in the above.
More info than what? Are you assuming that inspection is equivalent to one programme cycle, or something?
More info than inspecting the code for at most T seconds. Finite examination time seems like a reasonable assumption.
I get the impression you’re reading more than I’m saying. If you want to get into the original topic we should probably forget the OP and discuss orthonormal’s mini-sequence.
More info than who or what inspecting the code? We are talking about superscientists here.
I no longer have any clue what we’re talking about. Are superscientists computable? Do they seem likely to die in less than the lifespan of our (visible) universe? If not, why do we care about them?
The point is that you can’t say a person of unknown intelligence inspecting code for T seconds will necessarily conclude less than a computer of unknown power running the code for T seconds. You are comparing two unknowns.