[extropy-chat] Re: Structure of AI

Eliezer Yudkowsky sentience at pobox.com
Tue Nov 23 10:51:39 UTC 2004


scerir wrote:
> From: "Adrian Tymes" 
> 
> 
>>For example: are we in a highly detailed computer
>>simulation, or is this reality just what it appears
>>to be?  Answer: if the simulation is detailed enough
>>that we can never tell the difference, then it does
>>not matter - any and every action we do has the same
>>effect, and the universe we perceive behaves in
>>exactly the same way.  (Note that this specifically
>>excludes, for example, Agent Smith like characters: if
>>they were present, we could eventually detect them,
>>and thus we would have a way to find out that we were
>>in a sim.)  
> 
> Is a simulation 'detailed enough' the same as a simulation
> 'deterministic enough'? Because, in this case, the simulation
> would be too strong, that is to say no 'free will' (whatever 
> it means) would be allowed.

This is where Adrian's rule comes in handy; until you can give me an 
experimental test for the presence or absence of free will, you're not 
allowed to talk about it.  :)

-- 
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky                          http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence



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