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Wes_W comments on [Resolved] Is the SIA doomsday argument wrong? - Less Wrong Discussion

5 Post author: Brian_Tomasik 13 December 2014 06:01AM

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Comment author: Wes_W 13 December 2014 07:13:03AM 0 points [-]

We know the filter on Earth can't be early or middle because we're here, though we don't know what the filter looks like in general.

I'm confused by this sentence. It sounds like it contains the update you're arguing against. Are you presenting this as part of your own argument, or part of the argument you're opposing? Because if we don't have an early or middle filter, that leaves us with a late filter, and thus impending doomsday.

Comment author: Brian_Tomasik 13 December 2014 07:21:26AM 1 point [-]

Sorry, that sentence was confusing. :/ It wasn't really meant to say anything at all. The "filter" that we're focusing on is a statistical property of planets in general, and it's this property of planets in general that we're trying to evaluate. What happened on Earth has no bearing on that question.

That sentence was also confusing because it made it sound like a filter would happen on Earth, which is not necessarily the case. I edited to say "We know the filter on Earth (if any)", adding the "if any" part.