Map and Territory (Rationality: From AI to Zombies Book 1)

by Eliezer Yudkowsky

Therefore I call theories such as vitalism mysterious answers to mysterious questions. These are the signs of mysterious answers to mysterious questions: First, the explanation acts as a curiosity-stopper rather than an anticipation-controller. Second, the hypothesis has no moving parts—the model is not a specific complex mechanism, but a blankly solid substance or force. The mysterious substance or mysterious force may be said to be here or there, to cause this or that; but the reason why the mysterious force behaves thus is wrapped in a blank unity. Third, those who proffer the explanation cherish their ignorance; they speak proudly of how the phenomenon defeats ordinary science or is unlike merely mundane phenomena. Fourth, even after the answer is given, the phenomenon is still a mysteryand possesses the same quality of wonderful inexplicability that it had at the start.