Re: why not high complexity?

From: Karl Stiefvater <qarl.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 08:34:36 -0500

                juergen.domain.name.hidden wrote:
 OO O O
        O > > then lim i->inf e(i) = inf.
         O >
 O > This will not give you a uniform
        O > distribution on infinitely many things.
  O O
  O O yes. i agree.
    O O
   O O hm.
 O O O
    O O let's try a thought experiment.
 O O O O
    O O there is a universe which contains a large
 O O machine. a factory. which produces self-aware
 O O O robots. they are all identical, aside from their
 O O O serial number. it takes a year to make such a
     O OO robot. this universe exists for 100 years, in
 OOO which time 100 robots are produced.
     OO O
 O O O O when the robots come alive - they are able to
 O OOO reason about their serial number. a robot may
 OOO O
OO O O O say "there is a 90% chance my serial number is
OO O O O O greater than ten."
OO O O O
O O O O O now consider a similar universe - but this one
O O O O exists for 200 years. in it the robots can
OOO O O O reason similarly, and can say "there is a 95%
OOO O O O chance my serial number is greater than ten."
OO O O O
OO OO O O now consider a similar universe - one which
O O O O OO lasts forever.
O OO O OO
O OO OOO by your argument - the robots cannot reason
OO OO OO about their serial numbers - because there are
OO OO OOO infinitely many robots, and there is no uniform
OO OO OOO distribution over them.
OO OOO OO
OO OO OOO poppycock i say. although YES, I AGREE, THERE IS
OO OO OOO NO UNIFORM DISTRIBUTION OVER AN INFINITE SET - i
 OOOO OOOO believe it is still possible for the robots to
O OOOOOOO reason about their serial numbers. but they need
OO OOO OOO to use tricks, like the one i presented earlier.
O OOOOOO
OOO OOOOO similarly, i think it is possible to reason
OOOOOO OOO about the complexity of a uniformly chosen
OOO OO OOO universe - and in doing so, i find that it's
OOOOOO OOO complexity is extremely high.
OO OOO OO
 OOOOOO OO
OOOOOOO OO
OO OO OOOO -k
Received on Mon Jun 18 2001 - 06:32:53 PDT