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Basically, keep around a meta-map that keeps track of which maps are good models of which parts of the territory.
In response to
Rationality Quotes June 2012
The Western World has been brainwashed by Aristotle for the last 2,500 years. The unconscious, not quite articulate, belief of most Occidentals is that there is one map which adequately represents reality. By sheer good luck, every Occidental thinks he or she has the map that fits. Guerrilla ontology, to me, involves shaking up that certainty.
I use what in modern physics is called the "multi-model" approach, which is the idea that there is more than one model to cover a given set of facts. As I've said, novel writing involves learning to think like other people. My novels are written so as to force the reader to see things through different reality grids rather than through a single grid. It's important to abolish the unconscious dogmatism that makes people think their way of looking at reality is the only sane way of viewing the world. My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything. If one can only see things according to one's own belief system, one is destined to become virtually deaf, dumb, and blind. It's only possible to see people when one is able to see the world as others see it.
That's what guerrilla ontology is — breaking down this one-model view and giving people a multi-model perspective.
Robert Anton Wilson, from an interview
I agree with Wilson's conclusions, though the quote is too short to tell if I reached this conclusion in the same way as he did.
Using several maps at once teaches you that your map can be wrong, and how to compare maps and find the best one. The more you use a map, the more you become attached to it, and the less inclined you are to experiment with other maps, or even to question whether your map is correct. This is all fine if your map is perfectly accurate, but in our flawed reality there is no such thing. And while there are no maps which state "This map is incorrect in all circumstances", there are many which state "This map is correct in all circumstances"; you risk the Happy Death Spiral if you use one of the latter. (I should hope most of your maps state "This map is probably correct in these specific areas, and it may make predictions in other areas but those are less likely to be correct".) Having several contradictory maps can be useful; it teaches you that no map is perfect.
Or you could always just average your inconsistent maps together, or choose the median value. Should work better than choosing a map at random.
Or accept that each map is relevant to a different area, and don't try to apply a map to a part of the territory that it wasn't designed for.
And if you frequently need to use areas of the territory which are covered by no maps or where several maps give contradictory results, get better maps.
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Glenn Beck discusses the Singularity, cites SI researchers
Glenn Beck also openly states that his books are ghost written. So maybe he's heard of Kurzweil and wants to talk about the singularity, but I'm guessing he's not the one reading SI publications.
Does it matter? People read Glenn Beck's books; this both raises awareness about the Singularity and makes it a more "mainstream" and popular thing to talk about.
The island of knowledge is composed of atoms?
Perhaps it's composed of atomic memes ?
I think this conversation just jumped one of the sharks that swim in the waters around the island of knowledge.
Organ donation versus cryonics
Simultaneously signing up for organ donation and cryonics versus only cryonics. Does having less organs decrease the likelihood of cryonics (including revival) working? Is it a good idea to have only your head frozen anyway, to save on electricity and storage? Do the benefits of organ donation outweigh any costs it could possibly incur, since organ donation is known to work?
Discuss.
I'm an organ donor because signing up was quick and easy. I'm not signing up for cryonics, because I anticipate that my family and close friends will have a harder time overcoming their grief if my body is not actually present at the funeral.
Amusingly, try substituting x=y=0. You find a different flawed step than the one Eliezer found.
Actually, x=y=0 still catches the same flaw, it just catches another one at the same time.
In response to
Rationality Quotes: March 2011
The discovery that the universe has no purpose need not prevent a human being from having one.
-Irwin Edman
My personal philosophy in a nutshell.
...at least the rules are consistent and correspond to reality...
Not all of them. Which applies to Old Testament gods too, I guess: the Bible is pretty consistent with that "no killing" thing.
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In this sense, God has screwed over each and every one of us- in three billion bases of DNA, there's bound to be alleles which we really don't like.
I think it's more the point that some of us have more dislikable alleles than others.