Vaniver comments on The Useful Idea of Truth - Less Wrong

77 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 02 October 2012 06:16PM

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Comment author: Decius 03 October 2012 02:04:28AM 0 points [-]

The actual belief is "This thingy which determines my experimental results is internally consistent and the rules governing it are time-invariant."

Where are your experimental results? Where are your beliefs? If they aren't the same thing, how can you compare them?

And finally: What would you expect to see if the thingy which determined the results of your experiments didn't have the qualities you ascribe to it? Try to avoid putting the question a meta-level up; my conclusion is that there is no evidence which doesn't support the premise that what I call reality is capricious and transient- but that if it is, there is no change in expected outcome from any decision I can make.