I think some humans are at level 6 some of the time (see Humans Who Are Not Concentrating Are Not General Intelligences). I would expect that learning cognitive algorithms from imagined experience is pretty hard for many humans (e.g. examples in the Astral Codex post about conditional hypotheticals). But maybe I have a different interpretation of Level 6 than what you had in mind?
Good point re learning cognitive algorithms from imagined experience, that does seems pretty hard. From imitation though? We do it all the time. Here’s an example of me doing both:
I read books about decision theory & ethics, and learn about expected utility maximization & the bounded variants that humans can actually do in practice (back of envelope calculations, etc.) I immediately start implementing this algorithm myself on a few occasions. (Imitation)
Then I read more books and learn about “pascal’s mugging” and the like. People are arguing about whether or not it’s a problem for expected utility maximization. I think through the arguments myself and come up with some new arguments of my own. This involves imagining how the expected utility maximization algorithm would behave in various hypothetical scenarios, and also just reasoning analytically about the properties of the algorithm. I end up concluding that I should continue using the algorithm but with some modifications. (Learning from imagined experience.)
Would you agree with this example, or are you thinking about the hierarchy somewhat differently than me? I’m keen to hear more if the latter.
Ah, I think you intended level 6 as an OR of learning from imitation / imagined experience, while I interpreted it as an AND. I agree that humans learn from imitation on a regular basis (e.g. at school). In my version of the hierarchy, learning from imitation and imagined experience would be different levels (e.g. level 6 and 7) because the latter seems a lot harder. In your decision theory example, I think a lot more people would be able to do the imitation part than the imagined experience part.
I think some humans are at level 6 some of the time (see Humans Who Are Not Concentrating Are Not General Intelligences). I would expect that learning cognitive algorithms from imagined experience is pretty hard for many humans (e.g. examples in the Astral Codex post about conditional hypotheticals). But maybe I have a different interpretation of Level 6 than what you had in mind?
Good point re learning cognitive algorithms from imagined experience, that does seems pretty hard. From imitation though? We do it all the time. Here’s an example of me doing both:
I read books about decision theory & ethics, and learn about expected utility maximization & the bounded variants that humans can actually do in practice (back of envelope calculations, etc.) I immediately start implementing this algorithm myself on a few occasions. (Imitation)
Then I read more books and learn about “pascal’s mugging” and the like. People are arguing about whether or not it’s a problem for expected utility maximization. I think through the arguments myself and come up with some new arguments of my own. This involves imagining how the expected utility maximization algorithm would behave in various hypothetical scenarios, and also just reasoning analytically about the properties of the algorithm. I end up concluding that I should continue using the algorithm but with some modifications. (Learning from imagined experience.)
Would you agree with this example, or are you thinking about the hierarchy somewhat differently than me? I’m keen to hear more if the latter.
Ah, I think you intended level 6 as an OR of learning from imitation / imagined experience, while I interpreted it as an AND. I agree that humans learn from imitation on a regular basis (e.g. at school). In my version of the hierarchy, learning from imitation and imagined experience would be different levels (e.g. level 6 and 7) because the latter seems a lot harder. In your decision theory example, I think a lot more people would be able to do the imitation part than the imagined experience part.
Well said; I agree it should be split up like that.