timtyler comments on Decision Theory FAQ - Less Wrong

52 Post author: lukeprog 28 February 2013 02:15PM

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Comment author: timtyler 11 March 2013 10:25:47AM 0 points [-]

"Cow Satan", as far as I can tell, would be impossible.

There isn't too much that is impossible. In general, if we can imagine it, we can build it (because we have already built it - inside our brains).

Comment author: davidpearce 11 March 2013 11:25:53AM 1 point [-]

Tim, in one sense I agree: In the words of William Ralph Inge, "We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form."

But I'm not convinced there could literally be a Cow Satan - for the same reason that there are no branches of Everett's multiverse where any of the world's religions are true, i.e. because of their disguised logical contractions. Unless you're a fan of what philosophers call Meinong's jungle (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meinong's_jungle), the existence of "Cow Satan" is impossible.