Asymptotic Logical Uncertainty: Concrete Failure of the Solomonoff Approach

post by Scott Garrabrant · 2015-07-22T19:27:51.000Z · LW · GW · 0 comments

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This post is part of the Asymptotic Logical Uncertainty series. In this post, I give a concrete example of how the Solomonoff Induction Inspired Aproach fails to converge to the correct probabilities when predicting the output of a simple Turing machine.

Let $f:N\to \{0,1\}$ be a function such that (for large $n$) $f\left(n\right)$ can be computed in time $2^n$, but there is no algorithm that can predict $f\left(n\right)$ in time less than $2^n$ consistently better than a coin which outputs 1 with probability $1/3$.

Construct a Turing machine $E$ as follows:

$E\left(2k\right)=f\left(2k\right)$, and

$E(2k+1)=f(2k+1)$ XOR $f\left({10}^k\right)$.

Imagine trying to predict $E\left(k\right)$ with an algorithm which takes time at most $k^2$. If $k$ is even, then it is determined by an event indistinguishable in time $k^2$ from a $1/3$ coin, so the predictor should output 1 or 0 with probability $1/3$. If $k$ is odd, then we have the XOR of two bits that are indistinguishable from independently 1 with probability $1/3$, so the predictor should output 1 with probability $4/9$.

Therefore, if we let $T\left(k\right)=k^3$ and $R\left(k\right)=k^2$, if SIA worked correctly, then we would have that the limit of the probability that $SIA(E,T,R)$ outputs 1 on the even bits would be $1/3$.

However, this is not the case. In particular, the the probability that the ${10}^k$th bit output by $SIA(E,T,R)$ is a 1 will not converge to $1/3$, but rather switch between $4/9$ and $5/9$.

This is because at the time that a predictor needs to predict $E\left({10}^k\right)$, it will have already outputted a 1 with probability $4/9$ for $E(2k+1)$, and had enough time to compute $f(2k+1)$. Therefore, if $f(2k+1)=0$, then any predictor that does make its prediction for $E\left({10}^k\right)$ match its prediction for $E(2k+1)$ will contradict itself.

The machines that will do well when sampled in $SIA(E,T,R)$ will be the ones that output 1 independently with probability 1/3 for all even bits and 1 with probability $4/9$ for all odd bits, EXCEPT when predicting a bit in a location that is a power of 10, in which case, it will copy (or negate) a previous bit, and output 1 with probability either $4/9$ or $5/9$, both of which are greater than the desired $1/3$.

Further, a machine that gives a 1 with probability of $1/3$ on $E\left({10}^k\right)$ for all $k$ will have a likelyhood going to 0 relative to the machines which just copy or negate their old answers.

Note that the correct probability with which to believe $E\left({10}^k\right)=1$ really is $1/3$, not $4/9$ or $5/9$. The prediction given to $E(2k+1)$ was calculated from a state of ignorance about $f(2n+1)$, and this prediction should have no effect on the prediction for $E\left({10}^k\right)$.

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