No, it really just doesn’t have to be a statement that someone else provides at all. From the perspective of a pure Bayesian agent, Bob telling you “I’m a Matrix Lord” is merely evidence that works to update (not necessily in a positive direction) the probability of the pre-existing hypothesis “Bob is a Matrix Lord”.
And Bob telling you “If you built a temple to worship this rock, 3^^^3 lives will find happiness” is merely Bayesian evidence to update the probability of the prexisting hypothesis “If I built a temple to worship this rock, 3^^^3 lives will find happiness”—a hypothesis that a mind can construct all by itself, it doesn’t need another mind to construct it for itself.
The problem is the probability you assign on the hypothesis, not that someone else provided you the hypothesis. Such explicit statements made by others are barely significant at all. As evidence they’re probably near worthless. If I wanted to find potential Matrix Lords, I’d probably have better luck focusing on the people who fart the least or have had the fewest cases of diarrhea, rather than the people who say “I’m a Matrix Lord.” :-)
No, it really just doesn’t have to be a statement that someone else provides at all. From the perspective of a pure Bayesian agent, Bob telling you “I’m a Matrix Lord” is merely evidence that works to update (not necessily in a positive direction) the probability of the pre-existing hypothesis “Bob is a Matrix Lord”.
And Bob telling you “If you built a temple to worship this rock, 3^^^3 lives will find happiness” is merely Bayesian evidence to update the probability of the prexisting hypothesis “If I built a temple to worship this rock, 3^^^3 lives will find happiness”—a hypothesis that a mind can construct all by itself, it doesn’t need another mind to construct it for itself.
The problem is the probability you assign on the hypothesis, not that someone else provided you the hypothesis. Such explicit statements made by others are barely significant at all. As evidence they’re probably near worthless. If I wanted to find potential Matrix Lords, I’d probably have better luck focusing on the people who fart the least or have had the fewest cases of diarrhea, rather than the people who say “I’m a Matrix Lord.” :-)