Vladimir_Nesov comments on Stupid Questions Open Thread - Less Wrong

42 Post author: Costanza 29 December 2011 11:23PM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 30 December 2011 08:37:59PM *  1 point [-]

Why, we could come up with abstract universes where the Magical Gods have exactly the powers and understanding of what's going on befitting Magical Gods. I wasn't thinking of normal and mundane things like superintelligent AIs or alien simulators. Take Thor, for example: he doesn't need to obey Maxwell's equations or believe himself to be someone other than a hummer-wielding god of lightning and thunder.

Comment author: Unweaver 30 December 2011 11:06:30PM *  0 points [-]

Maybe I'm just confused by your use of the term "magical". I am imagining magic as some kind of inexplicable, contracausal force - so for example, if Thor wanted to magically heal someone he would just will the person's wounds to disappear and, voila, without any physical process acting on the wounds to make them heal up, they just disappear. But surely that's not possible, right?

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 30 December 2011 11:10:10PM *  4 points [-]

Your imagining what's hypothetically-anticipated to happen is the kind of lawful process that magical worlds obey by stipulation.