This group, as in most AGI discussions, will use logic and statistical theory loosely. We have to. One is that we - thinking entities - do not know everything and so our reasoning is based on fragmentary knowledge. In this situation the boundaries of logical reasoning in thought, both natural and artificial, are going to be transgressed. However, knowing that is going to be the case in AGI, we can acknowledge it and try to figure out algorithms that will tend to ground our would-be programs.
Now Solomonoff Induction and Algorithmic Information Theory are a little different. They deal with concrete data spaces. We can and should question how relevant those concrete sample spaces might be to general reasoning about the greater universe of knowledge, but the fact that they deal with concrete spaces means that they might be logically bound. But are they? If an idealism is both concrete (too concrete for our uses) and not logically computable then we have to really be wary of trying to use it. If using Solomonoff Induction is incomputable it does not prove that it is illogical. But if it is incomputable, it would be illogical to believe that it can be used reliably. Solomonoff Induction has been around long enough for serious mathematicians to examine its validity. If it was a genuinely sound method, mathematicians would have accepted it. However, if Solomonoff Induction is incomputable in practice it would be so unreliable that top mathematicians would tend to choose more productive and interesting subjects to study. As far as I can tell, Solomonoff Induction exists today within the backwash of AI communities. It has found new life in these kinds of discussion groups where most of us do not have the skill or the time to critically examine the basis of every theory that is put forward. The one test that we can make is whether or not some method that is being presented has some reliability in our programs which constitute mini experiments. Logic and probability pass the smell test, even though we know that our use of them in AGI is not ideal. Jim Bromer ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=8660244-6e7fb59c Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
