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Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on Good luck, Mr. Rationalist - Less Wrong
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In sufficiently selective venues, I've been known to say "Good skill!" and "May the random variables be in your favor!"
I think "may the logical uncertainties resolve in your favor" makes a bit more sense, at least if you assume a multiverse/UDT setup where only logical facts determine the value of one's utility function, and "random variables" being favorable/unfavorable is just an illusion where copies of you at different locations in the multiverse experience different inputs.
Ah, right. I think a nonrandom variable situation actually came up and I said "May the unknown variables be in your favor" or "May the hidden variables be in your favor".
Why use this instead of the simpler "May the outcome be in your favour" which is also more accurate for what you really mean?
These days, the latter will likely be interpreted as a misquoted Hunger Games reference in some venues that might otherwise seem sufficiently selective.
I haven't watched Hunger Games. Or read it. I do like that phrasing, though.
Will using it give the wrong impression?
Well, it will give the impression (if interpreted that way) of being a pop culture reference when it's not, but I assume that's not what you mean.
It's not as obviously problematic as if, say, the HG characters were simply rolling dice to see who survived, or devoting significant resources to invoking the favor of their gods, or some such antirationalist meme; the movie is at least nodding in the direction of game theoretical concerns, if not necessarily showing much insight into them. So it could be worse.
Is that not the intended interpretation?
Nope, was using that before I read (some of) Hunger Games.
"Good Skill" was standard in my high school's marching band. Not a particularly rational venue, but it was specifically intended to discourage blaming anything on luck - the idea being that whatever happened, you could have practiced harder and gotten a different outcome.