PK

Karma: 187

PK Oct 4, 2008, 6:06 PM
13 points
on: Beyond the Reach of God
What’s the point of despair? There seems to be a given assumption in the original post that:

1) there is no protection, universe is allowed to be horrible --> 2)lets despair

But number 2 doesn’t change 1 one bit. This is not a clever argument to disprove number 1. I’m just saying despair is pointless if it changes nothing. It’s like when babies cry automatically when something isn’t the way they like because they are programmed to by evolution because this reliably attracted the attention of adults. Despairing about the universe will not attract the attention of adults to make it better. We are the only adults, that’s it. I would rather reason along the lines of:

1) there is no protection, universe is allowed to be horrible --> 2)what can I do to make it better

Agreed with everything else except the part where this is really sad news that’s supposed to make us unhappy.

PK Sep 30, 2008, 10:10 PM
0 points
on: The Magnitude of His Own Folly
Eli, do you think you’re so close to developing a fully functional AGI that one more step and you might set off a land mine? Somehow I don’t believe you’re that close.

There is something else to consider. An AGI will ultimately be a piece of software. If you’re going to dedicate your life to talking about and ultimately writing a piece of software then you should have superb programming skills. You should code something.. anything.. just to learn to code. Your brain needs to swim in code. Even if none of that code ends up being useful the skill you gain will be. I have no doubt that you’re a good philosopher and a good writer since I have read your blog but wether or not you’re a good hacker is a complete mystery to me.

PK Sep 27, 2008, 8:04 PM
4 points
on: Competent Elites
Eliezer, perhaps you were expecting them to seem like A-holes or snobs. That is not the case. They are indeed somewhat smarter than average. They also tend to be very charismatic or “shiny” which makes them seem smarter still. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are smart enough or motivated to fix the problems of the world.

Perhaps there are better models of the world than the Approval/Disapproval of Eletes dichotomy.

PK Apr 7, 2008, 7:15 AM
0 points
on: GAZP vs. GLUT
A simple GLUT cannot be conscious and or intelligent because it has no working memory or internal states. For example, suppose the GLUT was written at t = 0. At t = 1, the system has to remember that “x = 4”. No operation is taken since the GLUT is already set. At t = 2 the system is queried “what is x?”. Since the GLUT was written before the information that “x = 4” was supplied, the GLUT cannot know what x is. If the GLUT somehow has the correct answer then the GLUT goes beyond just having precomputed outputs to precomputed inputs. Somehow the GLUT author also knew an event from the future, in this case that “x = 4″ would be supplied at t = 1.

It would have to be a Cascading Input Giant Lookup Table(CIGLUT). eg: At t = 1, input = “1) x = 4” at t = 2, input = “1) x = 4 //previous inputs what is x?” //+ new inputs We would have to postulate infinite storage and reaffirm our commitment to ignoring combinatorial explosions.

Think about it. I need to go to sleep now, it’s 3 AM.

PK Apr 4, 2008, 5:19 PM
−10 points
on: Zombies! Zombies?
Humans have a metaphysical consciousness which is outside the mere physical world. I know this is true because this means I’m special and I feel special so it must be true. If you say humans consciousness is not something metaphysical and special then you are saying humans are no more special then animals or mere matter. You are saying that if you arrange mere matter in a certain way it will be just as special as me. Well, for your information, I’m really really special: therefore I’m right and you are wrong. In fact, I’m so special that there must be some way in which the universe says I’m special. Also, anyone attempting to take my specialness feelings about myself away from me is evil.

PK Apr 4, 2008, 3:29 AM
0 points
on: Reductive Reference
Can someone just tell us dumb asses the differece between describing something and experiencing it?

Um… ok.

Description: If you roll your face on your keyboard you will feel the keys mushing and pressing against your face. The most pronounced features of the tactile experience will be the feeling of the ridges of the keys pressing against your forehead, eyebrows and cheekbones. You will also hear a subtle “thrumping” noise of the keys are being pressed. If you didn’t put the cursor in a text editor you might hear some beeps from your computer. Once you lift your head you may still have some residual sensations on your face most likely where the relatively sharp ridges of the keys came in contact with your skin.

Experience: Roll your face on your keyboard. Don’t just read this, you have to actually roll your face on the keyboard if you want to experience it. 1, 2, 3, go … bnkiv7n6ym7n9t675r

Did you notice any difference between the description and the experience?

Anyways, I still hold that you can only define reductionism up to point after which you are just wasting time.

PK Apr 3, 2008, 8:32 PM
−1 points
on: Reductive Reference
Too much philosophy and spinning around in circular definitions. Eliezer, you cannot transfer experiences, only words which hopefully point our minds to the right thing until we “get it”. Layers upon layers of words trying to define reductionism won’t make people who haven’t “gotten it” yet “get it”. It will just lead to increasingly more sophisticated confusion. I suppose the only thing that could snap people into “getting” reductionism at this point is lots of real world examples because that would emulate an experience. How is this useful for building an AGI anyway? Please change your explanation tactic or move on to a different topic(if you want).

Q: Is “snow is white” true? A: No, it is false. Sometimes it is yellow(don’t eat it when yellow). Next question.

PK Mar 30, 2008, 2:59 PM
2 points
on: Hand vs. Fingers
Everyone ignored my c++ example. Was I completely off base? If so please tell me. IMHO we should look for technical examples to understand concepts like “reductionism”. Otherwise we end up wasting time arguing about definitions and whatnot.

Personally, I find it irritating when a discussion starts with fuzzy terms and people proceed to add complexity making things fuzzier and fuzzier. In the end, you end up with confused philosophers and no practical knowledge whatsoever. This is why I like math or computer science examples. It connects what you are talking about to something real.

PK Mar 30, 2008, 1:51 AM
11 points
on: Hand vs. Fingers
If people can understand the concept of Unions from c/c++ they can understand reductionism. One can use different overlaping data structures to access the same physical locations in memory.

union mix_t { long l; struct { short hi; short lo; } s; char c[4]; } mix;

Unfortunately the blog ate my indentations.

Is mix made up of a long, shorts or chars? Silly questions. mix.l, mix.s and mix.c are accessing the same physical memory location.

This is reductionism in a nutshell, it’s talking about the same physical thing using different data types. You can ‘go up’(use big data types) or ‘go down’ use small data types but you are still referring to the same thing.

In conclusion, aspiring rationalists should learn some basic c++.

PK Mar 17, 2008, 1:31 AM
−1 points
0
on: Reductionism
Caledonian’s job is to contradict Eliezer.

PK Mar 13, 2008, 8:32 PM
2 points
on: Penguicon & Blook
Eliezer, do you have a rough plan for when you will start programming an AI?

PK Mar 12, 2008, 9:56 PM
0 points
on: Probability is in the Mind
The “probability” of an event is how much anticipation you have for that event occurring. For example if you assign a “probability” of 50% to a tossed coin landing heads then you are half anticipating the coin to land heads.

PK Mar 12, 2008, 5:42 PM
2 points
on: Probability is in the Mind
Silas: My post wasn’t meant to be “shockingly unintuitive”, it was meant to illustrate Eliezer’s point that probability is in the mind and not out there in reality in a ridiculously obvious way.

Am I somehow talking about something entirely different than what Eliezer was talking about? Or should I complexificationafize my vocabulary to seem more academic? English isn’t my first language after all.

PK Mar 12, 2008, 4:32 PM
31 points
0
on: Probability is in the Mind
Here is another example me, my dad and my brother came up with when we were discussing probability.

Suppose there are 4 card, an ace and 3 kings. They are shuffled and placed face side down. I didn’t look at the cards, my dad looked at the first card, my brother looked at the first and second cards. What is the probability of the ace being one of the last 2 cards. For me: ¹⁄₂ For my dad: If he saw the ace it is 0, otherwise ²⁄₃. For my brother: If he saw the ace it is 0, otherwise 1.

How can there be different probabilities of the same event? It is because probability is something in the mind calculated because of imperfect knowledge. It is not a property of reality. Reality will take only a single path. We just don’t know what that path is. It is pointless to ask for “the real likelihood” of an event. The likelihood depends on how much information you have. If you had all the information, the likelihood of the event would be 100% or 0%.
What links here?
- byrnema's comment on Bayesian Flame by cousin_it (Jul 27, 2009, 12:30 PM; 0 points)

PK Mar 11, 2008, 5:01 PM
1 point
on: Mind Projection Fallacy
“Hard AI Future Salon” lecture, good talk. Most of the audience’s questions however were very poor.

One more comment about the mind projection fallacy. Eliezer, you also have to keep in mind that the goal of a sci-fi writer is to make a compelling story which he can sell. Realism is only important in so far as it helps him achieve this goal. Agreed on the point that it’s a fallacy, but don’t expect it to change unless the audience demands/expects realism. http://tvtropes.org/ if full of tropes that illustrate stuff like that.

PK Mar 11, 2008, 4:06 AM
1 point
on: Mind Projection Fallacy
Good post. I have a feeling I’ve read this very same example before from you Eliezer. I can’t remember where.

PK Mar 9, 2008, 5:12 PM
19 points
on: Righting a Wrong Question
OK, time to play:

Q: Why am I confused by the question “Do you have free will?”? A: Because I don’t know what “free will” really means. Q: Why don’t I know what “free will” means? A: Because there is no clear explanation of it using words. It’s an intuitive concept. It’s a feeling. When I try to think of the details of it, it is like I’m trying to grab slime which slides through my fingers. Q: What is the feeling of “free will”? A: When people talk of “free will” they usually put it thusly. If one has “free will”, he is in control of his own actions. If one doesn’t have “free will” then it means outside forces like the laws of physics control his actions. Having “free will” feels good because being in control feels better then being controlled. On the other hand, those who have an appreciation for the absolute power of the laws of physics feel the need to bow down to them and acknowledge their status as the ones truly in control. The whole thing is very tribal really. Q: Who is in control, me or the laws of physics? A: Since currently saying [I] is equivalent to saying [a specific PK shaped collection of atoms operating on the laws of physics], then saying “I am in control” is equivalent to saying “a specific PK shaped collection of atoms operating on the laws of physics is in control”. The laws of physics are not an outside force apart from me, they are inside me too. Q: Why do people have a tendency to believe their minds are somehow separate from the rest of the universe? A: Ugghhh… I don’t know the details well enough to answer that.

PK Mar 8, 2008, 8:31 PM
2 points
on: Dissolving the Question
Ughh more homework. Overcoming bias should have a sister blog called Overcoming laziness.

PK Feb 26, 2008, 8:35 PM
0 points
on: Leave a Line of Retreat
This reminds me of an item from a list of “horrible job interview questions” we once devised for SIAI:

Would you kill babies if it was intrinsically the right thing to do? Yes/No

If you circled “no”, explain under what circumstances you would not do the right thing to do:

If you circled “yes”, how right would it have to be, for how many babies? ___

What a horrible horrible question. My answer is … what do you mean when you say “intrinsically the right thing to do”? The “right thing” according to whom? If it was the right thing according to an authority figure but I disagreed, I probably would not do it. If the circumstances were so extreme that I truly believed it’s the right thing(eg: not killing a baby results in the baby’s death anyway + 1 million babies) then I would kill babies(assuming I could overcome my aversion to killing).

Actually I don’t really know how I would react. This is how I wish I would act. Calmly theorising in front of the computer never having experienced circumstances remotely as awful is not the same as being in those circumstances when the fear and dread overtakes you. There would probably be a significant shift from what I consider and feel is “me” right now to the “me” I would become in that hypothetical situation.

PK Feb 23, 2008, 5:43 AM
25 points
0
on: Politics is the Mind-Killer
Lately I’ve been thinking about “mind killing politics”. I have come to the conclusion that this phenomenon is pretty much present to some degree in any kind of human communication where being wrong means you or your side lose status.

It is incorrect to assume that this bias can only occurs when the topic involves government, religion, liberalism/conservatism or any other “political” topics. Communicating with someone who has a different opinion than you is sufficient for the “mind killing politics” bias to start creeping in.

The pressure to commit “mind killing politics” type biases is proportional to how much status one or one’s side has to lose for being wrong in any given disagreement. This doesn’t mean the bias can’t be mixed or combined with other biases.

I’ve also noticed six factors that can increase or decrease the pressure to be biased.

1)If you are talking to your friends or people close to you that you trust then the pressure to be right will be reduced because they are less likely to subtract status from you for being wrong. Talking to strangers will increase it.

2)Having an audience will increase the pressure to be right. That’s because the loss of status for being wrong is multiplied by the number of people that see you lose(each weighted for how important it is for them to consider you as having a high status).

3)If someone is considered an ‘expert’, the pressure to be right will be enormous. Thats because experts have special status for being knowledgeable about a topic and getting answers about it right. Every mistake is seen as reducing that expertise and proportionatly reducing the status of the expert. Being wrong to someone considered a non expert is even more painful then being wrong to an expert.

4)It is very hard psychologically to disagree with authority figures or the group consensus. Therefore “mind killing politics” biases will be replaced by other biases when there is disagreement with authority figure or the group consensus but will be amplified against those considered outside the social group.

5)People will easily spot “mind killing politics” biases in the enemy side but will deny, not notice or rationalize the same biases in themselves.

6)And finally, “mind killing politics” biases can lead to agitation(ei. triggering of the fight or flight response) which will amplify biased thinking.