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> If you mean to distinguish the normative and the positive, doing so in those well-known terms may save both your time and that of future interlocutors. I'm n
by mistermann 2y ago
> If you mean to distinguish the normative and the positive, doing so in those well-known terms may save both your time and that of future interlocutors.
I'm not sure what you mean, could you explain please?
> The ignorant mind finds binary distinctions most facile to draw. The clever but ungrounded one unfortunately tends most easily into more complex modes of error.
Is this an accusation directed towards me? If so, please provide more detail so I can realize my error.
- throwanem 2y agoI had occasion to describe the distinction in some detail here the other day: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40860651 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40860651 I wouldn't precisely call it an accusation. If it's anything beyond me being a bit bitchy on a hot and unpleasant day, it's a suggestion from one autodidact, perhaps to another, to bear in mind that the moment of "I have a great idea!" is best followed by a moment of "I wonder who's had something to say about it before."
- mistermann 2y agoOh my was my read wrong (backwards!) (and perhaps also my comments above?). So there are others I see...it's a shame there's no way for anomalous agents to locate each other in this simulation. :(
- throwanem 2y agoI suppose a simulationist would say there might be a lot of reasons for that, or none. But I suspect my simulation of a simulationist has not that much fidelity. In either case I rarely regret meeting unusual people, though make no promises a priori of taking any particular example very seriously; it depends a lot on the vector sum of the distinction.