SilasBarta

Understanding your understanding

Related to: Truly Part of You, A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation Partly because of LessWrong discussions about what really counts as understanding (some typical examples), I came up with a scheme to classify different levels of understanding so that posters can be more precise about what they mean when they claim to understand -- or fail to understand -- a particular phenomenon or domain. Each level has a description so that you know if you meet it, and tells you what to watch out for when you're at or close to that level. I have taken the liberty of naming them after the LW articles that describe what such a level is like. Level 0: The "Guessing the Teacher's Password" Stage Summary: You have no understanding, because you don't see how any outcome is more or less likely than any other. Description: This level is only included for comparison -- to show something that is not understanding. At this point, you have, a best, labels that other people use when describing the phenomenon. Maybe you can even generate the appearance of understanding on the topic. However, you actually have a maximum entropy probability distribution. In other words, nothing would surprise you, no event is more or less likely to happen, and everything is consistent with what you "know" about it. No rationalist should count this as an understanding, though it may involve knowledge of the labels that a domain uses. Things to watch out for: Scientific-sounding terms in your vocabulary that don't correspond to an actual predictive model; your inability to say what you expect to see, and what you would be surprised by. Level 1: The "Shut up and Calculate" Stage Summary: You can successfully predict the phenomenon, but see it as an independent, compartmentalized domain. Description: This is where you can predict the phenomenon, using a generative model that tells you what to expect. You are capable of being surprised, as certain observations are assigned low probability. It ma

103Mar 22, 2010

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Meta: LW Policy: When to prohibit Alice from replying to Bob's arguments?

In light of recent (and potential) events, I wanted to start a discussion here about a certain method of handling conflicts on this site's discussion threads, and hopefully form a consensus on when to use the measure described in the title. Even if the discussion has no impact on site...

Sep 12, 2012-5

Peter Thiel warns of upcoming (and current) stagnation

SIAI benefactor and VC Peter Thiel has an excellent article at National Review about the stagnating progress of science and technology, which he attributes to poorly-grounded political opposition, widespread scientific illiteracy, and overspecialized, insular scientific fields. He warns that this stagnation will undermine the growth that past policies have relied...

Oct 4, 201136

[link] Apostles' Creed = Tsuyoku Naritai???

Background: Apostles' Creed, Tsuyoku Naritai Related to: A Parable on Obsolete Ideologies Just something I thought I might add to the annals of cases where someone tries to re-interpret an old religious text to mean something more acceptable to the modern ear, in contradiction to what most people (especially its...

Aug 23, 2011-4

I can't see comments anymore -- what was recently changed?

I can't see the comments under posts anymore. This just started happening in the last day or so. (If I know a comment is there, I can still see it in the "recent comments" section.) I'm using IE8 at work (CORRECTION: IE7), where a lot of stuff is blocked for...

Aug 5, 201114

Cryonics facility coming to Texas?

It seems that the non-profit Stasis Foundation is planning to build a cryopreservation "castle" (dubbed the "Timeship") in the San Antonio area. My parents pointed me to this article, which was carried in the Austin American-Statesman. I can't find a site for the Stasis Foundation; (here's the Google search and...

Jun 28, 201122

General Bitcoin discussion thread (June 2011)

We've started a habit of creating periodic Bitcoin threads to confine discussion thereof to those threads and prevent excessive proliferation of Bitcoin topics in the discussion section. Here is a link to the last one, which links the other discussions. Lot's to talk about, and another bounce in Bitcoin's value...

Jun 10, 20116

[LINKs] Bitcoin hits mainstream; intelligent technical critique

Annie Lowrey discusses Bitcoin in Slate. No clear thesis, but important that it gets attention there. She gives a general overview, with emphasis on its benefits to fringe elements on society, and gives quick attack at the end. The attack seems misinformed, but it links to something more interesting, specifically......

May 19, 201112

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Understanding your understanding

Peter Thiel warns of upcoming (and current) stagnation

The continued misuse of the Prisoner's Dilemma

Morality as Parfitian-filtered Decision Theory?

SilasBarta

Meta: LW Policy: When to prohibit Alice from replying to Bob's arguments?

Peter Thiel warns of upcoming (and current) stagnation

[link] Apostles' Creed = Tsuyoku Naritai???

I can't see comments anymore -- what was recently changed?

Cryonics facility coming to Texas?

General Bitcoin discussion thread (June 2011)

[LINKs] Bitcoin hits mainstream; intelligent technical critique

Understanding your understanding

Peter Thiel warns of upcoming (and current) stagnation

The continued misuse of the Prisoner's Dilemma

Morality as Parfitian-filtered Decision Theory?

Meta: LW Policy: When to prohibit Alice from replying to Bob's arguments?

Peter Thiel warns of upcoming (and current) stagnation

[link] Apostles' Creed = Tsuyoku Naritai???

I can't see comments anymore -- what was recently changed?

Cryonics facility coming to Texas?

General Bitcoin discussion thread (June 2011)

[LINKs] Bitcoin hits mainstream; intelligent technical critique