Re:The Baby-Eating Aliens
by gjm11 on Friday February 06, 2009 @06:24PM
(#470550)
One theme in Eliezer Yudkowsky's other writing (which is mostly not fictional, at least not overtly so) is that the future is likely to be weirder than we expect, and that non-human minds are likely to be much much much weirder than we expect.
Therefore, if it's difficult to put oneself in the minds of the characters of the story, "that's not a bug, it's a feature".
Also, we are supposed to imagine that the people in the story are smarter and more disciplined thinkers than we are.
Therefore, if the characters reach quickly conclusions that we would agonize over for longer, that again may be a feature rather than a bug. (It depends on how good their reasoning actually turns out to be.)
The story probably does (as it stands) assume too much acquaintance with the ideas Eliezer's been talking about on the "Overcoming Bias" blog; but then, that's where it was posted.
Re:The Baby-Eating Aliens
by euccastro on Saturday February 07, 2009 @01:57PM
(#471370)
Also, the story reads like a fable in a SF setting. 'Realism' doesn't seem a fitting priority. A more believable account of the mental processes of the crew would add bulk without substance to the narration.
Therefore, if it's difficult to put oneself in the minds of the characters of the story, "that's not a bug, it's a feature".
Also, we are supposed to imagine that the people in the story are smarter and more disciplined thinkers than we are.
Therefore, if the characters reach quickly conclusions that we would agonize over for longer, that again may be a feature rather than a bug. (It depends on how good their reasoning actually turns out to be.)
The story probably does (as it stands) assume too much acquaintance with the ideas Eliezer's been talking about on the "Overcoming Bias" blog; but then, that's where it was posted.