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Bongo comments on Foma: Beliefs that Cause Themselves to be True - Less Wrong
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Comments (39)
Self-help aside, the most basic foma is "I believe this sentence".
It's equally coherent for you to believe or disbelieve that sentence, and the uttering doesn't seem to be related to its truth-value.
I would suggest something more like, "This sentence has been written."
Another nice one is "Bongo cannot believe this sentence".
I think he can get round the problem by saying that he can, if he chooses, believe it but chooses not to.
This doesn't solve the problem that he's disbelieving an obviously true sentence, though.
No, its false. It asserts that he cannot believe it, whereas we are saying that he can. Just because he chooses not to doesn't mean he can't (I choose not the jump out the first story window next to me, but this doesn't mean I can't).
Its the same trick as resolving the "everything I say is false" paradox, some things I say are false, some are true, and that sentence was the first kind.
Counterfactuals are fun :-) How do you know that he can believe it? Just because he asserts so? It seems to me that he cannot.
Why not? Sure, it would be a false belief, but people are capable of holding those.
Hm, good point. I guess we can close that loophole by saying something like "Bongo cannot believe this sentence and stay consistent".
Or "Bongo doesn't believe this sentence".