dfranke comments on Three consistent positions for computationalists - Less Wrong

5 Post author: dfranke 14 April 2011 01:15PM

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Comment author: cousin_it 14 April 2011 01:52:23PM *  13 points [-]

Hmm. My comment is the most highly upvoted response to your survey at the moment, and the second highest upvoted one is by XiXiDu expressing basically the same position as mine, but I don't see it on your list. Here's a summary: we don't yet have enough insight to choose any specific answer or even to know if we're asking the right questions. We're facing an unsolved scientific problem. The wisdom of crowds doesn't apply here. If no one has yet discovered Maxwell's equations or Watson and Crick's double helix, no amount of surveying can lead you to the right answer. You have to do, like, actual math and physics and biology and stuff.

Comment author: dfranke 14 April 2011 02:52:51PM 3 points [-]

I didn't list this position because it's out of scope for the topic I'm addressing. I'm not trying to address every position on the simulation hypothesis; I'm trying to address computationalist positions. If you think we are completely in the dark on the matter, you can't be endorsing computationalists, who claim to know something.