Well, the original concept of shock levels was defined in terms of what ideas you are comfortable with (hence the word ‘shock’). What you believe in is a different matter. As a former Singularitarian, I’m comfortable talking about as wild a scenario as you care to come up with; doesn’t mean I believe it’s actually going to happen.
That having been said, and suppose we adopt your definition in this context for the sake of argument, the paradox is easy to resolve. “Higher shock levels correspond to belief in more powerful and radical technologies, and are considered more correct than lower shock levels.” Considered more correct by whom? By people at higher shock levels. In other words, Alice (SL4) thinks every step Bob (SL0) takes in the direction of higher shock levels makes him more correct. This is not surprising! Symmetrically, Bob thinks every step Alice takes in the direction of lower shock levels makes her more correct. (And yes, people do take steps in both directions.) Thus, we cannot deduce the correct conclusion merely by looking at steps on a graph—as we should not be able to. The paradox disappears.
Well, the original concept of shock levels was defined in terms of what ideas you are comfortable with (hence the word ‘shock’). What you believe in is a different matter. As a former Singularitarian, I’m comfortable talking about as wild a scenario as you care to come up with; doesn’t mean I believe it’s actually going to happen.
That having been said, and suppose we adopt your definition in this context for the sake of argument, the paradox is easy to resolve. “Higher shock levels correspond to belief in more powerful and radical technologies, and are considered more correct than lower shock levels.” Considered more correct by whom? By people at higher shock levels. In other words, Alice (SL4) thinks every step Bob (SL0) takes in the direction of higher shock levels makes him more correct. This is not surprising! Symmetrically, Bob thinks every step Alice takes in the direction of lower shock levels makes her more correct. (And yes, people do take steps in both directions.) Thus, we cannot deduce the correct conclusion merely by looking at steps on a graph—as we should not be able to. The paradox disappears.