Nominull comments on Rationality quotes: September 2010 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Morendil 01 September 2010 06:53AM

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Comment author: Nominull 01 September 2010 02:34:09PM 3 points [-]

Of course, machine learning algorithms render this obsolete. You don't have to understand something to program it, just have a vague understanding of how that understanding might come about.

Comment author: gwern 01 September 2010 03:06:47PM 6 points [-]

Arguably, that's still understanding. 'Now I know that natural language parsing is in this family of parametric functions which my ML algorithm can handle, with the coefficients given by minimizing the divergence from a bazillion word corpus...&etc.'

Comment author: SilasBarta 01 September 2010 03:22:40PM 4 points [-]

If that could work, that would be equivalent to having a Level 3 understanding of how to regenerate the required knowledge -- hardly a shortcut!

Comment author: DanielLC 05 September 2010 05:42:44PM 0 points [-]

No, you have to have a certain understanding of how that understanding might come about.