TheAncientGeek comments on No Universally Compelling Arguments in Math or Science - Less Wrong

30 Post author: ChrisHallquist 05 November 2013 03:32AM

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Comment author: Vaniver 05 November 2013 08:26:11PM *  5 points [-]

General comment (which has shown up many times in the comments on this issue): taboo "mind", and this conversation seems clearer. It's obvious that not all physical processes are altered by logical arguments, and any 'mind' is going to be implemented as a physical process in a reductionist universe.

Specific comment: This old comment by PhilGoetz seems relevant, and seems similar to contemporary comments by TheAncientGeek. If you view 'mind' as a subset of 'optimization process', in that they try to squeeze the future into a particular region, then there are minds that are objectively better and worse at squeezing the future into the regions they want. And, in particular, there are optimization processes that persist shorter or longer than others, and if we exclude from our consideration short-lived or ineffective processes, then they are likely to buy conclusions we consider 'objective,' and it can be interesting to see what axioms or thought processes lead to which sorts of conclusions.

But it's not clear to me that they buy anything like the processes we use to decide which conclusions are 'objectively correct conclusions'.

Comment author: TheAncientGeek 05 November 2013 08:30:49PM *  0 points [-]

General comment (which has shown up many times in the comments on this issue): taboo "mind", and this conversation seems clearer. It's obvious that not all physical processes are altered by logical arguments, and any 'mind' is going to be implemented as a physical process in a reductionist universe.

Who said otherwise?

This old comment by PhilGoetz seems relevant

Thanks for that. I could add that self-improvement places further constraints.