= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
wanderingsoul comments on Torture vs Dust Specks Yet Again - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (54)
I agree with you a lot, but would still like to raise a counterpoint. To illustrate the problem with mathematical calculations involving truly big numbers though, what would you regard as the probability that some contortion of this universe's laws allows for literally infinite computation? I don't give it a particularly high probability at all, but I couldn't in any honesty assign it one anywhere near 1/3^^^3. The naive expected number of minds FAI affects (effects?) doesn't even converge in that case, which at least for me is a little problematic
Yes, if he had said "I think there is a small-but-reasonable probability that FAI could affect way way more than 3^^^3 people", I wouldn't have had a problem with that (modulo certain things about how big that probability is).
Well, small-but-reasonable times infinite equals infinite. Which is indeed way, way bigger than 3^^^3.
That's what I DID say, "average", and my reasoning is roughly the the same as wanderingsouls, except I don't consider it to be any kind of problem. The omega point, triggered inflation creating child universes, many other things we haven't even thought about... I'd estimate the probability that FAI will find practically infinite computational power around 10% or so.
And yea if I had chosen the working myself I'd probably have chosen something a bit more humble that I actually can comprehend, like a gogolplex, but 3^^^3 is the standard "incomprehensibly large number" used here, and I'm just using it to mean "would be infinite if we could assume transfinite induction".
Ack! Sorry, I must have missed the 'average'. Retracted.