Misha comments on Take heed, for it is a trap - Less Wrong

47 Post author: Zed 14 August 2011 10:23AM

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Comment author: [deleted] 17 August 2011 06:35:15PM 2 points [-]

If you know nothing about A and B, then you know something about A&B. You know it is the conjunction of two things you know nothing about.

Comment author: Jack 17 August 2011 07:53:27PM 0 points [-]

Since A=B is a possibility the uses of "two things" here is bit specious. You're basically saying you know A&B but that could stand for anything at all.

Comment author: [deleted] 17 August 2011 11:41:17PM 0 points [-]

You know that either A and B are highly correlated (one way or the other) or P(A&B) is close to P(A) P(B).

Comment author: benelliott 17 August 2011 06:52:57PM 0 points [-]

Yeah, and I know that A is the disjunction of A&B and A&(~B), and that it is the negation of the negation of a proposition I know nothing about, and lots of other things. If we reading a statement and analysing its logical consequences to count as knowledge then we know infinitely many things about everything.