This is an error I see people making over and over… That different theory may be a useful new development! But that is what it is, not a defence of the original theory.
I think this is the crux of our disagreement. Yudkowsky was denying the usefulness of a term entirely because some people use it vaguely. I am trying to provide a less vague and more useful definition of the term—not to say Yudkowsky is unjustified in criticising the use of the term, but that he is unjustified in writing it off completely because of some superficial flaws in presentation, or some unrefined aspects of the concept.
An error that I see happening often is throwing out the baby with the bathwater, and I’ve read people on Less Wrong (even Yudkowsky I think, though I can’t remember where, sorry) write in support of ideas like “Error Correction” as a virtue and Bayesian updating whereby we take criticisms as an opportunity to refine a concept rather than writing it off completely.
I am trying to take part in that process, and I think Yudkowsky would have been better served had he done the same—suggested a better definition that is useful.
I think this is the crux of our disagreement. Yudkowsky was denying the usefulness of a term entirely because some people use it vaguely. I am trying to provide a less vague and more useful definition of the term—not to say Yudkowsky is unjustified in criticising the use of the term, but that he is unjustified in writing it off completely because of some superficial flaws in presentation, or some unrefined aspects of the concept.
An error that I see happening often is throwing out the baby with the bathwater, and I’ve read people on Less Wrong (even Yudkowsky I think, though I can’t remember where, sorry) write in support of ideas like “Error Correction” as a virtue and Bayesian updating whereby we take criticisms as an opportunity to refine a concept rather than writing it off completely.
I am trying to take part in that process, and I think Yudkowsky would have been better served had he done the same—suggested a better definition that is useful.