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> In contrast, the originally worded question "Is f computable" is a modally invalid question, analogous to the Sleeping Beauty or Red Envelope paradoxes. It's
by alexey-salmin 2y ago
> In contrast, the originally worded question "Is f computable" is a modally invalid question, analogous to the Sleeping Beauty or Red Envelope paradoxes. It's like, grammatically incorrect.
I don't think these paradoxes are relevant here. They only highlight a fact that application of the pure mathematical notion of probability to the actual reality is sometimes a non-trivial process. It's not a surprise, if you think of it the fact that the probability theory works _at all_ when applied to reality is extremely puzzling and has been a subject of various scientific and philosophical inquiries (see "probability interpretations").
Now the resolution you propose ("would" f be) doesn't seem to resolve anything. The purpose of "god" question is to force the reader to abstract away from a particular P-NP problem and understand that the whole concept of computability is useless for constant functions. So what you suggest is helpful only if you could also apply it to the original P-NP question, which I don't see so far. How the modalities approach come into play here, for a well-defined mathematical question?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- gowld 2y agoYou are further demonstrating how the cloudy semantics of the question and of casual semi-mathematical English language makes the problem harder than it needs to be. This is a huge problem in probability theory, as you allude to. Experts often forget how their preferred mathematical models drift away from lay language, and say things casually that don't really mean what they say.