steven0461 comments on Least Signaling Activities? - Less Wrong

27 Post author: RobinHanson 22 May 2009 02:46AM

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Comment author: ciphergoth 22 May 2009 07:52:56AM 5 points [-]

Why are you interested in locating the least signalling activities?

I would guess because a hypothesis that explains everything explains nothing.

Comment author: steven0461 22 May 2009 09:51:45AM *  11 points [-]

A hypothesis that explains everything that could happen explains nothing. A hypothesis that only explains everything that does happen explains everything.

For every star in the universe, the theory of gravity explains why it is round. If the theory of gravity were also capable of explaining cubical and pear-shaped stars, only then would we need to worry.

ETA: if the hypothesis explains everything that does happen, that might be evidence that it also explains things that don't happen, so in that sense you're right.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 22 May 2009 10:06:14AM 0 points [-]

Describing the structure of what could happen is also an important task, it just isn't the same as explaining what does happen. The first describes the world as you value it, the second describes the effect of your actions on that world.