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Comment by iglu on [SEQ RERUN] Class Project · 2012-05-24T05:29:13.533Z · LW · GW

The best part would be keeping the results secret (with independent verification). I expect it would make many people interested in lesswrong. The controversy alone due to conflicts with typical academic values of open access would be great PR.

Comment by iglu on [SEQ RERUN] Class Project · 2012-05-24T05:18:53.374Z · LW · GW

Could someone find us some problems to work on that require relatively little advanced mathematics vocabulary to understand?

Comment by iglu on How to deal with non-realism? · 2012-05-24T04:35:00.228Z · LW · GW

There were and are materialisms which explicitly talk about multiple levels of reality. Someone who believes that the brain is made of atoms but that consciousness is "strongly emergent" is still a materialist - at least compared to someone else who believes in a separate soul-substance

The problem with "strong emergence" is that it can be used to "explain" anything and is thus worthless.

If evolutionary biology could explain a toaster oven, not just a tree, it would be worthless. There's a lot more to evolutionary theory than pointing at Nature and saying, "Now purpose is allowed," or "Evolution did it!" The strength of a theory is not what it allows, but what it prohibits; if you can invent an equally persuasive explanation for any outcome, you have zero knowledge.

Comment by iglu on May 2012 Media Thread · 2012-05-23T04:56:02.629Z · LW · GW

Minus, a webcomic about a girl with godlike powers.

It is probably most famous for this image: