I admit that my understanding of the word’s definition is heavily colored by its use here and on Overcoming Bias.
However, I will note the Wikipedia article does hint at the possible duplicity of signalling that I have implied.
The sender observes his own type while the receiver does not know the type of the sender. Based on his knowledge of his own type, the sender chooses to send a message from a set of possible messages M = {m1, m2, m3,..., mj}. The receiver observes the message but not the type of the sender.
Thus the receiver determines the probability that the signal has a credible basis. A sender sufficiently skilled at manipulation could fool the receiver into believing a false signal. More relevantly, an insufficiently skilled signaller of curiosity would be unsuccessful in overcoming a receiver’s probability distribution weighted heavily against the signaller having genuine curiosity.
I’m tempted to propose that the definition on that Less Wrong wiki page be removed from it, on the grounds that it doesn’t match the Wikipedia definitions. Unless most people on Less Wrong know exactly what the word means (or most articles that use the word give a correct definition of it), I suspect that it would be better us to stop using it.
I admit that my understanding of the word’s definition is heavily colored by its use here and on Overcoming Bias.
However, I will note the Wikipedia article does hint at the possible duplicity of signalling that I have implied.
Thus the receiver determines the probability that the signal has a credible basis. A sender sufficiently skilled at manipulation could fool the receiver into believing a false signal. More relevantly, an insufficiently skilled signaller of curiosity would be unsuccessful in overcoming a receiver’s probability distribution weighted heavily against the signaller having genuine curiosity.
I’m tempted to propose that the definition on that Less Wrong wiki page be removed from it, on the grounds that it doesn’t match the Wikipedia definitions. Unless most people on Less Wrong know exactly what the word means (or most articles that use the word give a correct definition of it), I suspect that it would be better us to stop using it.