= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
lmm comments on Rationalist Fiction - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (189)
So it wouldn't be possible to convince you that 2+2=3? No matter the evidence?
If someone claimed to be a rain god, or was credibly claimed to be a rain god based on previous evidence, and tested this by going through an EMP, stripping, generally removing any plausible way technological means could be associated with them, then being transported while in a medically-induced coma to a series of destinations not disclosed to them in advance in large deserts, and at all times was directly under, in, or above rainclouds, defying all meteorological patterns predicted by the best models just in advance of the trip, I find it hard to see how you could reasonably fail to assign significant probability to a model which made the same predictions as "this person is a rain god".
It'd be possible, but it would take more evidence than someone having been rained on for 14 years.
If you're talking about models and predictions you've already made the relevant leap, IMO. Even if you're calling the person a "god", you're still taking a fundamentally naturalistic approach; you're not assuming basic mental entities, you're not worshiping.
Calling someone a rain god is making the prediction "If I worship this person, rain will occur at the times I need it more often than it would if I did not worship this person." Worship doesn't stop being worship just because it works.