I’m sorry you think so Eliezer—I thought it was relevant to this post, otherwise I wouldn’t have linked to it.
This seems wrong is the rational response to 2=1 in the same way as it’s the response to the headline ‘Twins marry by mistake.’ After all, if ‘all is maths’, shouldn’t we trust in the internal consistency of the whole world, and check the evidence when it doesn’t fit our best theories? I hope this doesn’t hijack your intended train of discussion.
I think that conclusion is right, and the key lies in the word “check”. Yes, we check the evidence when it doesn’t fit what we thought. Sometimes the evidence is defective (you guys remember that FTL neutrino business?); sometimes, well… it isn’t (Michelson-Morley experiment!).
I’m sorry you think so Eliezer—I thought it was relevant to this post, otherwise I wouldn’t have linked to it.
This seems wrong is the rational response to 2=1 in the same way as it’s the response to the headline ‘Twins marry by mistake.’ After all, if ‘all is maths’, shouldn’t we trust in the internal consistency of the whole world, and check the evidence when it doesn’t fit our best theories? I hope this doesn’t hijack your intended train of discussion.
I think that conclusion is right, and the key lies in the word “check”. Yes, we check the evidence when it doesn’t fit what we thought. Sometimes the evidence is defective (you guys remember that FTL neutrino business?); sometimes, well… it isn’t (Michelson-Morley experiment!).