From: Aleksei Riikonen (aleksei@iki.fi)
Date: Sun May 21 2006 - 18:23:04 MDT
On 5/22/06, Edward Miller <progressive_1987@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Some of you thought Bostrom did take into consideration that some
> post-singularity ET would create simulations, and that others would not. My
> point in writing that was that the statement was worded poorly, and possibly
> exposing a Modernist perspective that progress is one path. What happens to
> the argument if exactly 50 percent of post-singularity ET create
> simulations?
You still are not understanding at all what Bostrom was saying...
Exactly 50% (or any amount whatsoever, including 0% or 100%) of
posthuman civilizations running simulations is perfectly compatible
with his argument.
This percentage being significantly above 0% just means that option
(2) can't be true, in which case (1) or (3) (or both) is true.
> "x unless y" does mean that x is mutually exclusive with y. Thus, his
> conclusion is false.
Would you also like to claim that "x or y" implies mutual exclusivity?
Have you ever studied logic, and noticed how words are not always used
in the exact same meaning that many people use them in their everyday
lives?
It is extremely obvious that Bostrom did not mean mutual exclusivity
by saying "unless". He even made this very explicit in the previous
sentence, by saying "at least one"!
-- Aleksei Riikonen - http://www.iki.fi/aleksei
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