Zack M. Davis
(originally published at Less Wrong) In this 2019 paper published in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C, Manolo Martínez argues that our understanding of how communication works has been grievously impaired by philosophers not knowing enough math. A classic reduction of meaning...
Zack M. Davis
(originally published at Less Wrong) Followup to: Where to Draw the Boundaries? Without denying the obvious similarities that motivated the initial categorization {salmon, guppies, sharks, dolphins, trout, ...}, there is more structure in the world: to maximize the probability your world-model...
Zack M. Davis
(originally published at Less Wrong) A similar definition of intelligence was expressed by Aquinas as "the ability to combine and separate"—the ability to see the difference between things that seem similar and to see the similarities between things which seem different. —A. R. Jensen In a June...
Zack M. Davis
(originally published at Less Wrong) If a lion could speak, we could not understand her. —Ludwig Wittgenstein In order for information to be transmitted from one place to another, it needs to be conveyed by some physical medium: material links of cause and effect that vary in response to...
Zack M. Davis
(originally published at Less Wrong) Followup to: Where to Draw the Boundaries? There is an important difference between having a utility function defined over a statistical model's performance against specific real-world data (even if another mind with different values would be interested in...
Zack M. Davis
(originally published at Less Wrong) "Why didn't you tell him the truth? Were you afraid?" "I'm not afraid. I chose not to tell him, because I anticipated negative consequences if I did so." "What do you think 'fear' is, exactly?" The Generalized Anti-Zombie Principle calls for us to posit...
Zack M. Davis
(originally published at Less Wrong) A decade and a half from now, during the next Plague, you're lucky enough to have an underground bunker to wait out the months until herd immunity. Unfortunately, as your food stocks dwindle, you realize you'll have to make a perilous journey out to the …
Zack M. Davis
(originally published at Less Wrong) Reply to: Decoupling vs Contextualising Norms Chris Leong, following John Nerst, distinguishes between two alleged discursive norm-sets. Under "decoupling norms", it is understood that claims should be considered in isolation; under "contextualizing norms", it...
Zack M. Davis
(originally published at Less Wrong) In "Against Lie Inflation", the immortal Scott Alexander argues that the word "lie" should be reserved for knowingly-made false statements, and not used in an expanded sense that includes unconscious motivated reasoning. Alexander argues that the expanded sense...
Zack M. Davis
(originally published at Less Wrong) Followup to: Where to Draw the Boundaries? Or there might be social or psychological forces anchoring word usages on identifiable Schelling points that are easy for different people to agree upon, even at the cost of some statistical "fit" ... The one comes to...
Zack M. Davis
(originally published at Less Wrong) Followup to: Where to Draw the Boundary? Figuring where to cut reality in order to carve along the joints—figuring which things are similar to each other, which things are clustered together: this is the problem worthy of a rationalist. It is what people should...