VAuroch comments on The Weighted Majority Algorithm - Less Wrong

18 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 12 November 2008 11:19PM

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Comment author: VAuroch 22 September 2014 06:36:25AM -1 points [-]

because there are ``orderings'' of the world's population that would fool your algorithm

So don't use those orderings. That randomness isn't buying you power. It's acting as though you know nothing about the distribution of red-headed people. If you do, in fact, know something about the distribution of red-headed people (i.e. there are more red-headed people than average in Ireland and fewer in Africa, therefore make sure each sample draws proportionally from Ireland, Africa, and non-Ireland-non-Africa), then you can exploit that to make your prediction more reliable.