So, we have reconciled quantum mechanics and general relativity? We have put quantum mechanics on deterministic grounds? Many-worlds is accepted fact? Indeed I must check out overcoming bias....
Well said. I got the impression in this thread that some AI researchers are trying to beat physics into shape so that it would support certain views favorable to AI.
[This is not to say that those researchers are unintelligent, just that a certain bias may exist.]
Re:Tell YC: Answers from John McCarthy
by mechanical_fish on Friday May 09, 2008 @04:59PM
(#185892)
I really liked this one:
http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/04/on-being-decohe.html
Of course, I have a Ph.D. in semiconductor lasers, so I've been trying to think about such stuff off and on for years... which means I'm a terrible test case for articles like this. ;)
Re:Tell YC: Answers from John McCarthy
by byrneseyeview on Friday May 09, 2008 @08:47PM
(#186068)
Check his submissions; overcomingbias.com is one of the links.
The man behind the handle is probably Eliezer Yudkowsky, a researcher at SIAI who, among other things, run the annual Singularity Summit. In case anyone wants to know.
Re:Tell YC: Answers from John McCarthy
by byrneseyeview on Monday May 12, 2008 @10:31AM
(#187595)
Right. I was wondering why he appears to have two handles -- both using his name, both posting stuff related to his research.
This might have been true in the days before anyone had the concept of macroscopic decoherence (popularly known as many-worlds) but quantum physics is pretty normal these days. See the recent series at Overcoming Bias.