6 ms·
Anthropic Bias (2020)
- MontyCarloHall 5y agoThis is a link to a 240 page book without any further context. Hard to have a discussion on something like that, since most people not already familiar with this book would have a hard time writing a meaningful comment about it. For things like this, it would be neat to institute a “HN Book Club,” where readers informally schedule a (bi)weekly discussion on each chapter. I think that would help keep the discussion focused and easier to approach.
- scandox 5y agoDiscussion can be good, but I sometimes find that I'm happy to see no comments under something that is just of interest and doesn't really require comment.
- grlass 5y agoAnother related view on this, especially Chapter 6, is Chapter 18 of Scott Aaronson's "Quantum Computing since Democritus" [1], that discusses some interesting stuff you can do with SSA. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Computing_Since_Democritus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Computing_Since_Democr...
- scythe 5y agoNot (2020), (2002): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_Bias_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_Bias_(book)
- WillDaSilva 5y agoThis digital copy of the book was released in February 2020
- julienchastang 5y agoThe print edition is available at AbeBooks for about $50. The publication date is listed as 2010, FWIW. https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?cm_sp=SearchF-_-topnav-_-Results&ds=20&kn=Anthropic%20Bias%3A%20Observation%20selection%20effects%20in%20science%20and%20philosophy&sts=t https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?cm_sp=SearchF...
- opwieurposiu 5y agoI am not convinced the universe actually is that well tuned for intelligent life. There are quite a few problems I experience on a daily basis. Speed of light is too slow, making communication difficult. Reactionless thrusters seem to be impossible, making travel slow and noisy. Over unity power generation impossible, making power expensive.
- AnimalMuppet 5y agoOver unity power generation could result in some planet-destroying runaway accidents. Maybe we're better off without that one.
- Tenoke 5y agoI guess the comment is in jest but the argument is that it's finetunned for life to be possible not comfortable.
- TeMPOraL 5y agoBy definition, within Earth's evolutionary history, we are about the dumbest possible animals to achieve sapience. Perhaps similarly, our universe is one of the dumbest possible configurations to support our kind of life?
- baking 5y agoThe universe is obviously not tuned for space faring intelligent life. What the Anthropic Principle or Self-Sampling Assumption actually says is the universe is tuned to include our form of intelligent life, maybe others too, but not necessarily all forms of intelligent life. I haven't read the book, but basically we could not observe a universe that was not tuned for us, so it should not surprise us to see that it is.
- Sil_E_Goose 5y agoNick Bostrom, the author, also wrote "Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies" [1], which HN readers may be more familiar with. If you enjoyed that book, I would highly recommend this one as well. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superintelligence:_Paths,_Dangers,_Strategies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superintelligence:_Paths,_Dang...