srn347 comments on Second-Order Logic: The Controversy - Less Wrong

24 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 04 January 2013 07:51PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 07 January 2013 11:10:15PM 3 points [-]

It may not be possible to check all of them, but it certainly is possible to check one of them...any one of them. And whichever one you choose to check, you'll find that it exists. So if you claim that some of the possible configurations don't exist, you're claiming they'd have to be among the ones you don't choose to check. But wait, this implies that your choice of which one(s) to check somehow affects which ones exist. It sure would be spooky if that somehow turns out to be the case, which I doubt.

Comment author: khafra 08 January 2013 01:33:37PM 0 points [-]

Exactly. And I could make my choice of which pr0n library to check--or which 1.5TB turing machine to run--dependent on 10^13 quantum coinflips; which, while it would take a while, seems physically realizable.