Seconded! On this note, I think the assumed presence of adversaries or competitors is actually one of the under-appreciated upshots of MIRI’s work on Logical Induction (https://intelligence.org/2016/09/12/new-paper-logical-induction/). By the logical induction criterion they propose, “good reasoning” is only defined with respect to a market of traders of a particular complexity class—which can be interpreted as saying that “good reasoning” is really intersubjective rather than objective! There’s only pressure to find the right logical beliefs in a reasonable amount of time if there are others who would fleece you for not doing so.
“good reasoning” is really intersubjective rather than objective! There’s only pressure to find the right logical beliefs in a reasonable amount of time if there are others who would fleece you for not doing so.
This is a really interesting point that reminds me of arguments made by pragmatist philosophers like John Dewey and Richard Rorty. They also wanted to make “justification” an intersubjective phenomenon, of justifying your beliefs to other people. I don’t think they had money-pump arguments in mind though.
Seconded! On this note, I think the assumed presence of adversaries or competitors is actually one of the under-appreciated upshots of MIRI’s work on Logical Induction (https://intelligence.org/2016/09/12/new-paper-logical-induction/). By the logical induction criterion they propose, “good reasoning” is only defined with respect to a market of traders of a particular complexity class—which can be interpreted as saying that “good reasoning” is really intersubjective rather than objective! There’s only pressure to find the right logical beliefs in a reasonable amount of time if there are others who would fleece you for not doing so.
This is a really interesting point that reminds me of arguments made by pragmatist philosophers like John Dewey and Richard Rorty. They also wanted to make “justification” an intersubjective phenomenon, of justifying your beliefs to other people. I don’t think they had money-pump arguments in mind though.