All of mag's Comments + Replies

0Perplexed
Next time you comment, try the Help link (lower right).

I'm highly sympathetic to the intuition that the liar sentence is devoid of meaning in some important respect, but I don't think we can just declare the liar sentence meaningless and then call it a day. Because in another respect, it definitely seems meaningful. I understand what a sentence is, and I feel like I understand what it is for a sentence to be true or false. If someone wrote on a blackboard "The thing written on the blackboard of room 428 is false," I feel like I would understand what this is saying before I went to check out room 428.... (read more)

1topynate
If it's meaningless, it doesn't assert anything.
0mag
O.K., I don't know how to italicize here.

It would be helpful to know more about the sorts of things they typically post about, but I understand you probably don't want to inadvertently reveal the smart-wrong individuals you have in mind.

The reason I say this is because there are probably a lot of people out there like me - people who, while liking the LessWrong community and its stewards overall, have some serious bones to pick with some of the "core" "rationalist" beliefs and approaches to various questions. These two things in combination beget an urge to respectfully but pe... (read more)

0jsalvatier
Out of curiosity, what are some of the bones you have to pick?

You hit the nail on the head when you describe the story as "idealized autobiography," but I think it makes sense for one's most important ideological frenemies (Hanson) to end up getting represented in a satire chiefly about ideology.

Harry has decided, I'm sure correctly, that Quirrell's ability to flawlessly adopt any persona and simulate any intention for long stretches of time while simultaneously furthering his own (true) goals makes him impossible to trust. But if Harry buys into Quirrell's claims, Harry is equally capable of perpetual, undetectable duplicity and therefore equally unworthy of trust. And if he believes that's the case, it's just going to isolate him further, since he'll conclude that anyone who wants to be his friend is either irrational or overlooking the factors ... (read more)

Oddly enough, salvation here might come from Draco, with his arguments that influence/manipulation/persuasion is, far from being evil, actually a good thing and you can't have healthy relationships without it.

I feel almost certain that Harry is living in a computer simulation. I know he ruled it out because he decided the existence of the Time Turner renders the universe non-computable, but how can he be sure that he's actually going backwards in time instead of the universe "simulating going back to the past and computing a different future?"

8Baughn
Time-travel doesn't make the universe uncomputable, is the thing. Time-travel makes certain laws of physics uncomputable, but there are any number of equivalent, far more complex sets of laws that would look the same to humans but remain computable - Eliezer's mind is running one, for starters. When writing a simulation, you would use one of those.

Hi, I'm also interested. I don't know if I've very much to contribute compared to some other folks, but hopefully I could still tag along?