James_Miller comments on Closet survey #1 - Less Wrong

53 [deleted] 14 March 2009 07:51AM

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Comment author: James_Miller 14 March 2009 10:31:17PM 0 points [-]

I don't accept the logic behind "I think therefore I am" and I think there is a reasonable chance that I or even the universe doesn't in any sense exist.

Comment author: steven0461 14 March 2009 11:08:56PM *  14 points [-]
  • Type I error: existing, but believing you don't exist
  • Type II error: not existing, but believing you exist

I'm more worried about type I than type II error.

Comment author: Liron 15 March 2009 09:01:00PM 12 points [-]

It is written:

Sure, when the dust settles, it could turn out that apples don't exist, Earth doesn't exist, reality doesn't exist. But the nonexistent apples will still fall toward the nonexistent ground at a meaningless rate of 9.8 m/s2.

Comment author: CarlShulman 14 March 2009 11:01:44PM 2 points [-]

Any sense at all? Could you clarify?

Comment author: James_Miller 14 March 2009 11:09:30PM 4 points [-]

By in any sense I mean there might be "nothing" as most people would define it rather than as it is defined in quantum physics.

If you accept that the universe exists then the most remarkable think about the universe is that it does exist. So you should only accept that there is almost certainly something if you have an exceptionally large amount of evidence.

Comment author: Annoyance 14 March 2009 11:07:30PM 1 point [-]

I ditto James_Miller, primarily because the definition of 'exist' I worked out can't apply to the universe as a whole.

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