Vaniver comments on Theists are wrong; is theism? - Less Wrong

5 Post author: Will_Newsome 20 January 2011 12:18AM

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Comment author: Vaniver 21 January 2011 01:25:40AM 2 points [-]

They match posts on the subject by Yudkowsky.

So, a science fiction author as well as a science fiction movie? What evidence should I be updating on?

Comment author: wedrifid 21 January 2011 01:31:11AM *  1 point [-]

So, a science fiction author as well as a science fiction movie?

Nonfiction author at the time - and predominantly a nonfiction author. Don't be rude (logically and conventionally).

What evidence should I be updating on?

I was hoping that you would be capable of updating based on understanding the abstract reasoning given the (rather unusual) premises. Rather than responding to superficial similarity to things you do not affiliate with.

Comment author: Vaniver 21 January 2011 01:44:07AM 3 points [-]

If you link me to a post, I'll take a look at it. But I seem to remember EY coming down on the side of empiricism over rationalism (the sort that sees an armchair philosopher as a superior source of knowledge), and "just simulate the entire universe" comments strike me as heavily in the camp of rationalism.

I think you might be mixing up my complaints, and I apologize for shuffling them in together. I have no physical context for hacking outside of the matrix, and so have no clue what he's drawing on besides fictional evidence. Separately, I consider it stunningly ignorant to say "Just simulate the entire universe" in the context of basic epistemology, and hope EY hasn't posted something along those lines.

Comment author: wedrifid 21 January 2011 01:48:33AM 2 points [-]

Separately, I consider it stunningly ignorant to say "Just simulate the entire universe" in the context of basic epistemology

Simulating the entire universe does seem to require some unusual assumptions of knowledge and computational power.