James Hollomon

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Just as you can’t usually convey a concept’s whole intension in words because it’s a big complicated neural membership test, you can’t control the concept’s entire intension because it’s applied sub-deliberately. This is why arguing that XYZ is true “by definition” is so popular. If definition changes behaved like the empirical null-ops they’re supposed to be, no one would bother arguing them. But abuse definitions just a little, and they turn into magic wands—in arguments, of course; not in reality.
James Hollomon
The flaw in arguing something is true by definition when tweaking it.
Rationality: From AI to Zombies
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