JoshuaZ comments on Shock Level 5: Big Worlds and Modal Realism - Less Wrong

15 [deleted] 25 May 2010 11:19PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (140)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: JoshuaZ 26 May 2010 04:05:25AM 5 points [-]

Note, with my above setup, it is very easy to transition from testing the many worlds hypothesis, to actually using it to your advantage. Want to factor a large number? Randomly sample the solution space on your computer, detonating only if the random sample isn't a solution. (Make sure to implement an initial fail-safe probability in case no solution exists!)

There's an old joke about this related to the problem of sorting lists. A proposed sorting method is to take what you want, and randomly rearrange it. If that isn't sorted, destroy the universe.

Your approach seems directly inferior from a utilitarian perspective because it will lead to many universes where not only did you fail to factor it but the rest of us will miss your company (and be stuck cleaning up a large mess).

Comment author: Jordan 26 May 2010 04:25:50AM 6 points [-]

Your approach seems directly inferior from a utilitarian perspective because it will lead to many universes where not only did you fail to factor it but the rest of us will miss your company (and be stuck cleaning up a large mess).

The solution, of course, is to replace high explosives with the LHC.