Will_Newsome comments on Open Thread: July 2010, Part 2 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: Alicorn 09 July 2010 06:54AM

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Comment author: Will_Newsome 16 July 2010 02:03:38AM *  1 point [-]

Er, sorry, I'm guessing my comment came across as word salad?

Added: Rephrased and expanded and polemicized my original comment in a reply to my original comment.

Comment author: Kevin 16 July 2010 02:06:19AM 0 points [-]

Yeah I didn't get it either.

Comment author: Will_Newsome 16 July 2010 02:08:23AM 2 points [-]

Hm. It's unfortunate that I need to pass all of my ideas through a Nick Tarleton or a Steve Rayhawk before they're fit for general consumption. I'll try to rewrite that whole comment when I'm less tired.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 16 July 2010 08:47:18AM 2 points [-]

It's unfortunate that I need to pass all of my ideas through a Nick Tarleton or a Steve Rayhawk before they're fit for general consumption.

Illusion of transparency: they can probably generate sense in response to anything, but it's not necessarily faithful translation of what you say.

Comment author: Will_Newsome 16 July 2010 05:19:17PM 2 points [-]

Consider that one of my two posts, Abnormal Cryonics, was simply a narrower version of what I wrote above (structural uncertainty is highly underestimated) and that Nick Tarleton wrote about a third of that post. He understood what I meant and was able to convey it better than I could. Also, Nick Tarleton is quick to call bullshit if something I'm saying doesn't seem to be meaningful, which is a wonderful trait.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 16 July 2010 09:47:43PM 2 points [-]

Well, that was me calling bullshit.

Comment author: Will_Newsome 17 July 2010 04:14:26PM 0 points [-]

Thanks! But it seems you're being needlessly abrasive about it. Perhaps it's a cultural thing? Anyway, did you read the expanded version of my comment? I tried to be clearer in my explanation there, but it's hard to convey philosophical intuitions.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 17 July 2010 05:59:35PM *  0 points [-]

I find myself unable to clearly articulate what's wrong with your idea, but in my own words, it reads as follows:

"One should believe certain things to be probable because those are the kinds of things that people believe through magical thinking."

Comment author: Kevin 16 July 2010 02:18:27AM 2 points [-]

Was your point that Eliezer's Everett Branch is weird enough already that it shouldn't be that surprising if universally improbable things have occurred?

Comment author: Will_Newsome 16 July 2010 02:57:25AM 1 point [-]

Erm, uh, kinda, in a more general sense. See my reply to my own comment where I try to be more expository.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 16 July 2010 08:41:58AM 0 points [-]

Er, sorry, I'm guessing my comment came across as word salad?

I'm afraid it is word salad.