From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Wed Dec 18 2002 - 00:17:45 MST
Mike Lorrey wrote:
> --- "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com> wrote:
>
>>This year, tell your little children about the Fairy of Doubt, who
>>brings presents only to those children who don't believe in him;
>>and be sure to relate the heartwarming story of little Sally, who
>>almost started believing in the Fairy of Doubt, but was saved from
>>an unhappy Newtonmas by the Competing Hypothesis.
>
> The problem with your proposal of the Fairy of Doubt is that kids
> should continue to not believe in him (is it a him?) even after
> confronted by the evidence of his existence in the form of presents.
> You'll wind up raising kids who don't believe NASA ever sent men to the
> moon, and other such foolish things.
No... that's the purpose of the Competing Hypothesis, which states that
the Fairy of Doubt's existence is an elaborate hoax maintained by a vast
conspiracy that includes the media, the schools, and the child's own
parents...
Hm, I see what you mean.
-- Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/ Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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