Gwern.net — Philosophy

The Impossibility of Knowledge of Retrocognitive Knowledge · Gwern.net

Gwern — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Is it possible to prove the existence of retrocognition if precognition also exists, because precognition could be used to foresee any proof found of retrocognition? Does this also disprove precognition as well?

One Man’s Modus Ponens · Gwern.net

Gwern — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

One man’s modus ponens is another man’s modus tollens is a saying in Western philosophy encapsulating a common response to a logical proof which generalizes the reductio ad absurdum and consists of rejecting a premise based on an implied conclusion. I explain it in more detail, provide examples, and a Bayesian gloss.

On Seeing Through and Unseeing: The Hacker Mindset · Gwern.net

Gwern — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Defining the security/hacker mindset as extreme reductionism: ignoring the surface abstractions and limitations to treat a system as a source of parts to manipulate into a different system, with different (and usually unintended) capabilities.

Solving Pascal’s Mugging with Dynamic Programming · Gwern.net

Gwern — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Attempt to resolve Pascal’s mugging by examining whether optimal policies with linear utility do in fact engage in ‘mugging’ behavior

Notes on Pascal’s Mugging · Gwern.net

Gwern — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Attempt to resolve Pascal’s mugging by proposing & justifying a linear prior probability which bounds losses.

On the Existence of Powerful Natural Languages · Gwern.net

Gwern — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

A common dream in philosophy and politics and religion is the idea of languages superior to evolved demotics, whether Latin or Lojban, which grant speakers greater insight into reality and rationality, analogous to well-known efficacy of mathematical sub-languages in solving problems. This dream fails because such languages gain power inherently from specialization.

The Narrowing Circle · Gwern.net

Gwern — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Modern ethics excludes as many beings as it includes.

An Abortion Dialogue · Gwern.net

Gwern — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Dialogue pointing out some difficulties of materialist objections to abortion.

Charity is not about Helping · Gwern.net

Gwern — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Simple cost-benefit: distributed computing considered harmful as scientific lemon projects run at high resource cost.

Isomorphisms & Meaning · Gwern.net

Gwern — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Haskell juvenilia, reinventing entry-level math wheels, of no interest to anyone; investigating when two theories or representations mean the same things.

Ontological Pantheism · Gwern.net

Gwern — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Descartes’s God is pantheism; a reductio ad absurdum of his ontology

Distinguishing sources of religion by their experiential differences · Gwern.net

Gwern — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Does the convergence of religious experiences point to a shared truth?

The Presocratic’s Logical Path to Atomism · Gwern.net

Gwern — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

How and why did they deduce atomism?

Against the Miletians and the One True Element · Gwern.net

Gwern — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Exploring consequences of material monism and conflict with observations

Immoral Books · Gwern.net

Gwern — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Argument that texts are neither moral nor immoral as they require active interpretation.

On Disrespect · Gwern.net

Gwern — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

An attempt to reinvent classic theories of social interaction as expressions of power

On Justifications · Gwern.net

Gwern — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Philosophical fiction or a prose poem about suffering innocents and the theodicy