Comments by TheAtomicMoose

In response to comment by byrnema on Instrumental vs. Epistemic -- A Bardic Perspective

Comment author: komponisto 29 April 2009 12:31:26AM 4 points [-]

there were pained expressions and then the PI "responded" by just repeating exactly what he had just said before my comment.

Sorry to be off-topic, but:

Even after consulting this list, I can't come up with a single meaning of "PI" that would make sense in this sentence. ( "Principal investigator" is perhaps the closest, but that would only be appropriate if you are a research scientist and everyone here knows this, likely because they're research scientists too.)

Permalink

In response to comment by komponisto on Instrumental vs. Epistemic -- A Bardic Perspective

Comment author: TheAtomicMoose 11 August 2009 06:50:34AM 0 points [-]

Private Investigator? :-O

Permalink

In response to Instrumental vs. Epistemic -- A Bardic Perspective

Comment author: JamesAndrix 25 April 2009 04:41:34PM 42 points [-]

Part of this is about how we draw a balloon around what 'you' are. If you are a talking ape, then that ape might be lying to itself. If you are a rationalist trapped in part of the brain of a talking ape, then you are just tricking another part of it's brain, which is entirely rational.

A bounded entrepreneur will keep searching until all likely problems have likely solutions, and he has at least one likely successful plan.It don't know if this would be a cause or an effect of optimism. (and by optimism I mean feeling like things will be ok, independent of your probability estimates of what will happen.) If I had to guess, I'd say you might find solutions in your attempt to rationalize why you're not worried about something that you would not find in an 'unbiased' search.

A pessimist might see problems coming that an optimist wouldn't see, but maybe that's just not enough of a disadvantage in todays economy.

Not really on topic, but very interesting story: Normal people are convinced by role players that they are in a magical universe. http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=91462&cid=7876768

Permalink

In response to comment by JamesAndrix on Instrumental vs. Epistemic -- A Bardic Perspective

Comment author: TheAtomicMoose 11 August 2009 06:28:45AM * 2 points [-]

Part of this is about how we draw a balloon around what 'you' are. If you are a talking ape, then that ape might be lying to itself. If you are a rationalist trapped in part of the brain of a talking ape, then you are just tricking another part of it's brain, which is entirely rational.

I absolutely love that idea. But I think a clearer way of explaining it is that we are talking apes who have picked up this blunt, rotting bone of rationality and are using it as any other tool to pursue the same old talking ape desires. While the means are rational, the ends aren't even close. Anyway, great point and lovely imagery!

Permalink

In response to The Strangest Thing An AI Could Tell You

Comment author: taw 16 July 2009 03:08:23PM 15 points [-]

For 95% of humanity the idea that the supernatural world of religion doesn't exist and propagated by memetic infection triggers instant absolute denial macro in spite of heaps of evidence against it.

Given this outside view, how plausible do you think it is that you're not in absolute denial of something that you could get evidence against with Google today, without any AI?

Permalink

In response to comment by taw on The Strangest Thing An AI Could Tell You

Comment author: TheAtomicMoose 16 July 2009 08:32:54PM * 3 points [-]

We routinely deny, or act in spite of, inconvenient truths. We can recognize that there is no meaning to love beyond evolutionary and chemical triggers, yet we fight for it just as fervently. Nihilists write books about nihilism despite it's admitted pointlessness. We are as blind as our very genes which multiply and propagate themselves despite our executioner sun which grows daily above our heads, eventually to the point of consuming everything we know. By the very act of living and pursuing human concocted dreams and desires, we are in a constant denial of our situation.