But, but, you don’t understand. Math isn’t reeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!
I have an idea. Maybe it’d be more convincing if you said “Universe X is a simple computation.” People feel like computations are more real, and who knows, maybe they’re right. Maybe reality is computation, just a subset of mathematics. It seems a lot easier for people to envision that, at any rate. Or take Eliezer who (I think?) seems to think (or at least seemed to think) that reality juice is magically related to acyclic causal graphs.
You’ll still probably get the same objections, though: “Computations aren’t reeeeeeeaaaaaaaal, they have to be computed on something! Where’s the something coming from?” But that seems a little bit more silly, because the Something that is computing can be infinitely far back in the chain of computation. All of a sudden it feels more arbitrary to be postulating a Something that is Real. And real metaphysicists know that things shouldn’t feel arbitrary.
I am? I only read the decision theory chapters of Good and Real, the day before he showed up at SIAI house for the decision theory workshop. I’ll definitely read the last chapter when I get back to California.
But, but, you don’t understand. Math isn’t reeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!
I have an idea. Maybe it’d be more convincing if you said “Universe X is a simple computation.” People feel like computations are more real, and who knows, maybe they’re right. Maybe reality is computation, just a subset of mathematics. It seems a lot easier for people to envision that, at any rate. Or take Eliezer who (I think?) seems to think (or at least seemed to think) that reality juice is magically related to acyclic causal graphs.
You’ll still probably get the same objections, though: “Computations aren’t reeeeeeeaaaaaaaal, they have to be computed on something! Where’s the something coming from?” But that seems a little bit more silly, because the Something that is computing can be infinitely far back in the chain of computation. All of a sudden it feels more arbitrary to be postulating a Something that is Real. And real metaphysicists know that things shouldn’t feel arbitrary.
Now you’re just ripping off the last chapter of Drescher’s Good and Real. You know he comments here sometimes—he’d be so hurt at such plagiarism. :)
I am? I only read the decision theory chapters of Good and Real, the day before he showed up at SIAI house for the decision theory workshop. I’ll definitely read the last chapter when I get back to California.