662 David Deutsch and Naval Ravikant — The Fabric of Reality, The Importance of Disobedience, The Inevitability of Artificial General Intelligence, Finding Good Problems

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Naval Ravikant discusses the impact that The Beginning of Infinity and The Fabric of Reality have had on his life, calling them the two most important books he has read. He cites the comprehensive worldviews presented in these books as the reason for their importance, saying that they have helped him to make better decisions and to have a more honest view of the world.

The Fabric of Reality is a book by David Deutsch that explores the four strands of reality that we currently understand: the theory of knowledge, the theory of evolution, quantum theory, and the theory of computation.

David Deutsch is a leading figure in several fields, including quantum computing, multiverse theory, and the theory of evolution by natural selection. He is widely considered to be the father of quantum computing. His work has established him as a major thinker in these fields, and he is known for his strong belief in the possibility of artificial general intelligence (AGI).

The prevailing view of how knowledge grows is that scientists observe the world, form a theory based on their observations, and test that theory against more observations. If the theory holds up, it becomes a scientific law. This view is wrong, according to David Deutsch. The real scientific method is based on testing theories against predictions. If a theory makes accurate predictions, it is provisionally accepted as true. If it makes inaccurate predictions, it is rejected.

The Enlightenment ushered in an era of criticism in the West, where institutions like science are designed to produce new knowledge that contradicts existing knowledge.

David Deutsch and Naval Ravikant discuss the scientific method and how it is used to generate new knowledge. According to Deutsch, all knowledge begins with a problem and then continues with conjectures. Existing theories are existing conjectures. So you could say it starts with existing conjectures, but we don't actually do anything with those until a problem arises. The problem is a prima facie conflict between our ideas, which could be as simple as we can't get the experiment to work. Contrary to what the prevailing theory would say, that's not the first resort. That's pretty much the last resort. We don't do an experiment hoping to get a violation of the laws of physics. That never happens, absolutely never happens. The only time we ever discover a violation of the laws of physics, if we're lucky, is when we're looking for something else and we find it by accident.

If we have more than one theory, or if there are different ways of tweaking a theory, something has to be in conflict. We try to write off apparent violations of the theory as errors, but sometimes the laws of physics are not what we think they are. The process of doing scientific experiments is about debugging and trying to figure out what could have gone wrong. Experimental physics is difficult, andphysicists are not going to be happy if you tell them to do an experiment where we already know the answer.

We want to test our theories against common sense because the prediction of our best theory is so weird. This is a conflict between our best theory and common sense. Common sense is such a strong expectation that the experiment will go one way, and then, somebody has come along and said, Look, Ive calculated what should happen. And its totally counterintuitive. And then, you might say, Okay, lets try it. Lets actually try it. Lets put it to nature and see what happens.

Science is not a thing that can provide definite answers to controversies. It is a process of conjecture and testing, and sometimes we just do not have enough information to know what the best course of action is.

The theory of computation shows that artificial general intelligence is possible, and that thinking is a form of computation. However, we don't know the difference between computer programs that have all the attributes of human thinking, and those that don't. This difference is important in determining whether animals have rights. Evolutionary theory also disproves Lamarckism, which is important in understanding consciousness and other theories.

The theory of evolution by natural selection is not Lamarckism, nor is it group selection. These theories have been refuted by scientists. Quantum physics and multiverse theory are the two most likely explanations for the universe.

The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory was founded by Niels Bohr, with the idea that quantum theory could not be tested experimentally. John von Neumann later invented the Copenhagen interpretation as a stop-gap measure. However, physicist David Deutsch believed that the Copenhagen interpretation could be tested experimentally by using a quantum computer to run an artificial general intelligence (AGI) program. Deutsch's paper on the subject was published in 1977.

Quantum computing is a byproduct of the search for a multiverse theory. The theory of computational universality and quantum theory are used to create a test for the multiverse theory. If the multiverse theory is true, then quantum computing can be used to factor large numbers very quickly.

An explanation is a story that accounts for something. There are good explanations and bad explanations. A good explanation is one that is difficult to vary and still account for the same thing.

Naval Ravikant and David Deutsch discuss the nature of good explanations, noting that they must be able to stand up to variance and criticism. They use the example of the Greek explanation for spring, which is easily varied and therefore not a good explanation.

The growth of knowledge happens when people change even one tiny thing about a theory and it sort of falls apart. This leads to a principle of optimism, which is the rejection of the supernatural.

The supernatural explanation for things is equivalent to the Deus ex machina explanation in that they are both bad explanations. If you say that we cannot understand a certain thing, then you are contradicting the idea that we can understand anything. The only thing preventing us from doing anything we want is the lack of knowledge or the laws of physics.

In this conversation, Naval Ravikant and David Deutsch discuss the idea that unless the laws of physics explicitly forbid it, we can figure it out. Deutsch argues that even if we can't build something, we can still understand it. Ferriss asks how will fits into this picture, and Ravikant responds that will is just a matter of computation.

The connection between what we can understand and what we can do is that if we understand something, we should be able to test the theory behind it. If we can't test the theory, then we can't know for sure that it is true.

In his conversation with Naval Ravikant, David Deutsch argues that AGI is possible and that it is not related to AI. He explains that with an AGI, their thinking is unpredictable and they would be able to produce new, good explanations.

The author describes the difference between an AI and an AGI, with the latter being a more advanced form of artificial intelligence that is not constrained by pre-determined rules or outputs. The author argues that creating a good AGI is more difficult than creating a good AI, as there is no set specification for what an AGI should be able to do.

In a discussion between Naval Ravikant and David Deutsch, the latter explains that humans are fundamentally disobedient because they have the ability to be creative and output any behavior pattern. This means that AGIs (artificial general intelligence) would also fit this description, and they would make mistakes just like humans do.

Humans will rebel against being put in a cage, and this will cause problems for those who try to do so. Additionally, ideas like liberalism are based on how humans should interact with each other, and these ideas cannot be chosen at random. Instead, they must be based on epistemology. Finally, we should expect to be corrected by our children, AGIs, and ETs.

David Deutsch argues that the only way to prevent an artificial intelligence from becoming a new Hitler is to explain to them why Hitlers ideas were bad. He contends that crippling an AI is not possible, and that doing so would only be necessary if one lacked confidence in their own beliefs.

Deutsch argues that AGI is not achievable without a new philosophical theory of what the program is supposed to do. He believes that AGI will not require a lot of computer power, but rather a better understanding of how the mind works.

The idea is that when an AI chess player makes a move, it is because it has calculated that if it makes the move and then somebody else makes a move, and it makes a move, and the other player makes a move, and so on, and then it works its way back by a long chain of reasoning to its fundamental motivation, which doesn't change. It never thinks, "Oh, I'd rather play checkers instead," or, which is more realistic, "I don't so much care about winning. I love the game. I want to have a good game." Many chess players would rather have a good game than win.

Popper said that the good life is to fall in love with a problem and live with it happily for the rest of your life. And if you should happen to solve it, don't worry, that there will be problem children, a series of enchanting problem children, as he put it.

David Deutsch talks about the role of humans in the theory of everything. He explains that humans are special because they are the only known general intelligence in the universe. Deutsch argues that humans have a very outsized role to play in the universe because of their knowledge and ability to dream of distant quasars.

The "hierarchy rule" states that large things are not affected by small things, but this rule has been broken by the emergence of life. The emergence of life (and photosynthesis in particular) has transformed the surface of the Earth, creating oxygen and iron ore, among other things.

Biological evolution is severely limited in its ability to create knowledge, because it can only create knowledge where every step is an improvement. Humans, on the other hand, can use their creative imagination to come up with ideas that may not be immediately advantageous, but could be beneficial in the long run.

Humans are central to the universe and you cannot understand the universe without understanding humans. This is because the knowledge that we create can travel from one planet to another and transform it completely, violating the hierarchy rule of thumb that we have seen in the old universe.

David Deutsch believes that knowledge is a thing that causes itself to be replicated in the environment because it is useful. He also believes that wealth is the set of all transformations that you are capable of bringing about.

Naval Ravikant argues that wealth is a byproduct of knowledge, and that as civilization figures out how to make more and more transformations, everybody gets wealthier. He goes on to say that because we can do anything and figure anything thats not constrained by the laws of physics, that wealth is unlimited, just like knowledge is unlimited.

David Deutsch discusses how ideas can convert physical objects into resources, without anyone ever touching the object. He cites examples of how this has happened in the past, and how it continues to happen today. He believes that this is the result of the hierarchy rule, which states that things with more meaning dominate things with less meaning.

David Deutsch believes that the only way to truly learn physics is by doing it, and that Feynman is a bit out of date. He recommends that if someone is interested in learning quantum physics, they should just start by looking into something that interests them.

David Deutsch is a philosopher who advocates for a "curiosity-driven framework and freedom to explore" in child-raising. Brett Hall runs a podcast called The Theory of Knowledge Podcast, which explains Deutsch's work in detail. Deutsch's philosophy is based on Critical Rationalism, which is a group that puts together reading and explanatory materials on their worldview.

Critical rationalism is a philosophy that emphasizes the power of individual reason and common sense. It is based on the idea that knowledge is special and humans are important. The Fabric of Reality is a book that applies these principles to various fields, including politics and morality.

David Deutsch is an Austrian economist who puts creativity and knowledge growth at the center of the economy. He is currently working on a new theory in physics called constructor theory, which explores the possibilities of what can and cannot be done. The theory has implications for economics, as universal constructors could one day be used to create anything that is desired.

The article discusses the idea that eventually everything will be made by universal constructors, and what people will do when physical toil is abolished. It argues that disobedience is a necessary quality for programming universal constructors.

In the Enlightenment, people realized that they did not want to be ruled and that society was still imperfect because of the lack of knowledge of how to reduce political power. This led to the moral imperative of not destroying the means of error correction.

In this conversation, David Deutsch and Naval Ravikant discuss the importance of error correction and the destruction of the means of error correction. Deutsch argues that it is our moral imperative to not destroy the means of error correction, and that doing so will result in regret.

In this quote, David Deutsch discusses the importance of reading and understanding books in order to gain a better understanding of the world. He recommends reading books by Popper and Turing, as they are full of useful information.

David Deutsch is a 19th century historian who wrote a history of England. He died before finishing it, so someone else completed it using his notes. It's not as good as it could have been, but it's still a useful read.

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