@Danielle: Rice’s Theorem says that you can’t say of any possible computation whether or not it outputs 5, but this doesn’t mean you can’t know that 2 + 3 = 5. We work with special chosen cases of code that we do understand.
Patri, I coined the phrase “Algernon’s Law” some time ago but that was as part of an even stranger phase of my earlier wild and reckless youth, age fifteen or thereabouts. I’d probably prefer to talk about Algernon’s principle these days, just to avoid the connotations of that earlier “Law”. Or just reference Bostrom’s paper.
@Danielle: Rice’s Theorem says that you can’t say of any possible computation whether or not it outputs 5, but this doesn’t mean you can’t know that 2 + 3 = 5. We work with special chosen cases of code that we do understand.
Patri, I coined the phrase “Algernon’s Law” some time ago but that was as part of an even stranger phase of my earlier wild and reckless youth, age fifteen or thereabouts. I’d probably prefer to talk about Algernon’s principle these days, just to avoid the connotations of that earlier “Law”. Or just reference Bostrom’s paper.