Snowyowl comments on Causal Universes - Less Wrong

60 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 29 November 2012 04:08AM

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Tags: seq_epistemology qm causality hpmor

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Comment author: Bugmaster 28 November 2012 06:19:48PM 8 points [-]

So far, we've just generated all 2^N possible bitstrings of size N, for some large N; nothing more. You wouldn't expect this procedure to generate any people or make any experiences real, unless enumerating all finite strings of size N causes all lawless universes encoded in them to be real.

Wait, why not ? If people can be encoded as bit strings -- which is the prerequisite for any kind of a Singularity -- then what's the difference between a bit string that I obtained by scanning a person, and a completely identical bit string that I just happened to randomly generate ?

Comment author: Snowyowl 29 November 2012 08:14:45AM 7 points [-]

You make a surprisingly convincing argument for people not being real.

Comment author: Nornagest 29 November 2012 08:23:07AM 3 points [-]

Depends what you mean by "people", and what you mean by "real", really.

Comment author: Bugmaster 29 November 2012 08:29:44AM 2 points [-]

I could apply the same argument to rocks, or stars, or any other physical object. They can be encoded as bit strings, too -- well, at least hypothetically speaking.

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