prase comments on The Blackmail Equation - Less Wrong

13 Post author: Stuart_Armstrong 10 March 2010 02:46PM

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Comment author: prase 11 March 2010 09:21:40AM 2 points [-]

Common computer programs have a rather sharp boundary between their source code and the data. In brains (and hypothetical AIs) this distinction is (would be) probably less explicit. Whenever the baron learns anything, his source code changes in some sense, involuntarily, without recompiling. Still, the original source code contains all the information. Precommiting, in order to have some importance, should mean learning about a particular output of your own source code, rather than recompiling.

Comment author: wedrifid 12 March 2010 12:17:48AM 0 points [-]

The use of 'source code' here is merely a metaphor.

Comment author: prase 12 March 2010 08:30:37AM 0 points [-]

Metaphor standing for what exactly?

Comment author: wedrifid 13 March 2010 04:01:28AM 0 points [-]

UTM tape, brain, clockwork mechanism... whatever.