Re: Social Science Fiction?

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Mon, 15 Mar 1999 22:01:44 -0600

"I'm not willing to believe that everything is made out of these tiny
whizzing atoms. Well, I'm willing to believe that uranium is, because physicists have demonstrated that they can use it to vaporize cities."

When economists can do something cool - instead of scurrying around producing contradictory explanations, incorrect predictions, and hideously failed recommendations - they'll get the public's respect. Until then, no matter how much economists try to imitate the jargon, titles, and procedures of scientists, and no matter how many volumes of ANOVAed statistics they produce to hide the lack of any high-level rules, the public will rightly regard them as being on a level with astrologers.

I believe in science because science has produced technology. No technology, it isn't science. And that also goes for superstring theory, but physicists get the benefit of the doubt, from the media if not from me, because vaporizing cities is so impressive. 

-- 
        sentience@pobox.com          Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
         http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
          http://pobox.com/~sentience/singul_arity.html
Disclaimer:  Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.