After glancing over a 100-page proof that claimed to solve the biggest problem in computer science, Scott Aaronson bet his house that it was wrong. Why?
What I find interesting is that the pattern nearly always goes the other way: you’re more likely to think that a celebrated problem you understand well is harder than one you don’t know much about. It says a lot about both Eliezer’s and Scott’s rationality that they think of the other guy’s hard problems as even harder than their own.
Scott says that he thinks P != NP is easier / likely to come first.
Here an interview with Scott Aaronson:
It’s interesting that you both seem to think that your problem is easier, I wonder if there’s a general pattern there.
What I find interesting is that the pattern nearly always goes the other way: you’re more likely to think that a celebrated problem you understand well is harder than one you don’t know much about. It says a lot about both Eliezer’s and Scott’s rationality that they think of the other guy’s hard problems as even harder than their own.