GreedyAlgorithm comments on A Priori - Less Wrong

32 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 08 October 2007 09:02PM

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Comment author: GreedyAlgorithm 08 October 2007 10:09:47PM 2 points [-]

Something feels off about this to me. Now I have to figure out if it's because fiction feels stranger than reality or because I am not confronting a weak point in my existing beliefs. How do we tell the difference between the two before figuring out which is happening? Obviously afterward it will be clear, but post-hoc isn't actually helpful. It may be enough that I get to the point where I consider the question.

On further reflection I think it may be that I identify a priori truths with propositions that any conceivable entity would assign a high plausibility value given enough thought. I think I'm saying "in the limit, experience-invariant" rather than "non-experiential". I believe that some things, like 2+2=4, are experience-invariant: in every universe I can imagine, an entity who knows enough about it should conclude that 2+2=4. Perhaps my imagination is deficient, though. :)