Ian_C. comments on Underconstrained Abstractions - Less Wrong

5 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 04 December 2008 01:58PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (27)

Sort By: Old

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: Ian_C. 05 December 2008 12:31:35AM 0 points [-]

'How many new assumptions, exactly, are fatal? How many new terms are you allowed to introduce into an old equation before it becomes "unvetted", a "new abstraction"?'

Every abstraction is made by holding some things the same and allowing other things to vary. If it allowed nothing to vary it would be a concrete not an abstraction. If it allowed everything to vary it would be the highest possible abstraction - simply "existence." An abstraction can be reapplied elsewhere as long as the differences in the new situation are things that were originally allowed to vary.

That's not to say this couldn't be a black swan, there's no guarantees, but going purely on evidence what other choice do you have except to do it this way.