Almost every wonderful (or wondrous, if tha makes the point better) thing I have ever seen or heard about prompted a response "I could have done that!"
Maybe I could have, maybe I couldn't.
The historically important fact is, I didn't.
Related, I've been wondering something else.
Given our current level of technology (TL7 going on 8), is it even possible to simulate a universe computationally (the configuration space of the universe, whatever)?
If the wave equation is the distribution over a configuration space with respect to an arbitrary reference frame (i.e. "time"), then what "really exists" (again, not clear on what that means in this context) is an underlying configuration space. Do we know enough about that to represent one to the extent that we could create a minuscule universe that behaves structurally like our own?
Thomas, close. The point is that the Earth people are a fraction as smart/quick as a Bayesian proto-AI.
Eric, I'm a little embarrassed to have to say 'me too', at least until about half way. The Way is a bitch.
Eliezer, I've read a lot of your writings on the subject of FAI, not just here. I've never seen anything as convincing as the last two posts. Great, persuasive, spine-tingling stuff.
The parable was original with Antony Flew whose Theology and Falsification can be found here http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/flew_falsification.html
Eliezer,
That is a very interesting question. I'm not sure how to answer it. It would be a good test of a scientific claim as you need to provide falsification conditions. However philosophy does not work the same way. If utilitarianism is true, it is in some way conceptually true. I wouldn't know how to tell you what a good argument against 3 + 3 = 6 would look like (and indeed there are no decisive arguments against it). This does not count against the statement or my belief in it.
My best attempt to say that a good argument would be one that showed that h...
Now that I think of it, you probably just saw that it was unsigned and assumed it was me, putting my name on it.
Toby.
Eliezer,
Re utilitarianism: its fine to have an intuition that it is incorrect. It is also fine to be sceptical in the presence of a strong intuition against something and no good arguments presented so far in its favor (not in this forum, and presumably not in your experience). I was just pointing out that you have so far offered no arguments against it (just against a related but independant point) and so it is hardly refuted.
Re posts and names: I posted the 7:26pm, 5:56am and the 9:40am posts (and I tried the log in and out trick before the 9:40 post to ...
It seems to me that you are making an error in conflating, or at least not distinguishing, what people in fact prefer/strive at and what is in fact morally desirable.
So long as you are talking about what people actually strive for the only answer is the actual list of things people do. There is unlikely to be any fact of the matter AT ALL about what someones 'real preferences' are that's much less complicated than a description of their total overall behavior.
However, the only reason your arguments seems to be making a nontrivial point is because it talks...
Eliezer,
I'm not saying that I have given you convincing reasons to believe this. I think I could give quite convincing reasons (not that I am totally convinced myself) but it would take at least a few thousand words. I'll probably wait until you next swing past Oxford and talk to you a bit about what the last couple of thousands of years of ethical thought can offer the FAI program (short answer: not much for 2,500 years, but more than you may think).
For the moment, I'm just pointing out that it is currently nil all in the argument regarding happiness as a...
Eliezer,
In 'Not for the Sake of Happiness (Alone)' you made a case that happiness is not what each of us is consciously aiming at, or what each of us is ultimately aiming at (potentially through unconscious mechanisms). However, these points are not what utilitarianism is about and few utilitarians believe either of those things. What they do believe is that happiness is what is good for each of us. Even if someone consciously and unconsciously shuns happiness through his or her life, utilitarians argue that none-the-less that life is better for the person...
The above comment was posted by me, Toby Ord. I'm not sure why my name didn't appear -- I'm logged in.
For example, if we tessellate many small equilateral triangles to create a larger equilateral triangle, the resulting figure will not show any emergent properties.
On the contrary - the large shape emerges from all the small shapes! Isn't it wonderful? You can even get the same behavior on the higher level as on the lower level, only this time, it's emergent!
...is what an emergence advocate would say, if they wanted to claim yet more territory for their ever-growing kingdom.
Eliezer,
So you have a form of deontological ethics based on Newcomb's problem? Now that is very unusual. I can't see how that could be plausible, but hope that you will surprise me. Obviously it is something important enough for a post (or many), so I won't ask you to elaborate any further in the comments.