homunq comments on The mind-killer - Less Wrong

23 Post author: ciphergoth 02 May 2009 04:49PM

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Comment author: steven0461 14 May 2009 06:30:06PM *  0 points [-]

When you speak of "the probability", what information do you mean that to take into account and what information do you mean that not to take into account? What things does a rational agent need to know for the agent's subjective probability to become equal to the probability? (Not a rhetorical question.)

Comment author: homunq 14 May 2009 08:15:52PM 0 points [-]

To get the right answer, you need to make a honest effort to construct a model which is an unbiased composite of evidence-based models. Metaphorical reasoning is permitted as weak evidence, but cannot be the only sort of evidence.

And you also need to be lucky. I mean, unless you have the resources to fully simulate universes, you can never know that you have the right answer. But the process above, iterated, will tend to improve your answer.