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Re:Is This Economist Too Far Ahead of His Time? by arthurjj on Wednesday October 19, 2016 @06:28PM (#12748257)
He's stated elsewhere he thinks the chances of this scenario are only ~30% IIRC
Re:Is This Economist Too Far Ahead of His Time? by davidgerard on Wednesday October 19, 2016 @07:59PM (#12748801)
Based on what, though? The hazard of dealing with Bayesian epistemologists is that they will confidently state percentages that they literally made up.
Re:Is This Economist Too Far Ahead of His Time? by Houshalter on Thursday October 20, 2016 @02:38AM (#12750155)
Based on his own personal belief. Probabilities are a very useful way to precisely state the certainty of beliefs.

It means that if you offered him betting odds that it would happen, of less than 1:2, he would take it. And he would bet against it at odds higher than 1:2. Of course betting on the far future is impractical, because money might not be worth anything if it does happen, but in principle that's how these numbers can be interpreted.

Re:Is This Economist Too Far Ahead of His Time? by davidgerard on Friday October 21, 2016 @09:26AM (#12760192)
Yes, I know where Bayesian epistemologists get their numbers.

The danger is that they then announce these numbers as if they have any real-world basis, and that they are taken as making a claim about objective reality.

There's no evidence I know that pulling a number out of your backside and running it through Bayes' theorem produces better results than just pulling the number out directly and running with it. Indeed, the real-world track record of LessWrong/MIRI (to bring this back to topical relevance) strongly suggests it's less effective.

Re:Is This Economist Too Far Ahead of His Time? by Houshalter on Friday October 21, 2016 @09:01PM (#12766327)
He didn't claim it had "real world basis" or "run it through Bayes' theorem". He just said he expects about a 30% chance he is right.
Re:Is This Economist Too Far Ahead of His Time? by gohrt on Thursday October 20, 2016 @03:25AM (#12750324)
Is that different from any other epistemologists?