Post #3124420

2026-03-20 07:11 UTC

@internic@mathstodon.xyz Sorry if I'm being confusing about what position I'm taking, but it's because at the moment, I'm not taking a position. I'm just saying that we should all be careful to distinguish the different kinds of probabilities and to consciously choose one, rather than acting like they're all the same. I then went on to suggest that, when our goal is to be pragmatic practitioners (as opposed to when we're in the mood to discuss metaphysics for its own sake), then we should pick tactics consistent with that, such as assuming that reality is real, and the like -- there's a time and a place for things, that's all. That QBism page is interesting; I should reread it more carefully. @davidsuculum@mathstodon.xyz

Replies (2)

@androcat@toot.cat 2026-03-20 07:16

@dougmerritt@mathstodon.xyz @internic@mathstodon.xyz @davidsuculum@mathstodon.xyz It strikes me as deeply funny that Kant (that overrated jackass) read Hume's "What we rely on for learning about the world is something else than the fallacious deductions of our Reason" and then said "WE HAVE NO WAY OF LEARNING ABOUT THE WORLD!!". Like, what an ass. Similarly, it strikes me as problematic for an interpretation of quantum mechanics to "rule out" anything at all. All interpretations state the same fact : quantum mechanics. In that sense, it is weird to consider them to rule things in or out. For any such constraint to apply the interpretation that dictates it must first be crowned the One True Interpretation, and that's not really possible in a field where everyone is competing over the same observational patterns.

Open ##3124421
@internic@mathstodon.xyz 2026-03-20 14:57

@dougmerritt@mathstodon.xyz "Sorry if I'm being confusing about what position I'm taking, but it's because at the moment, I'm not taking a position." Or perhaps you're taking a ... superposition. 😜 More seriously, though, I generally agree that even if we can't definitively prove the objective existence of things, it's usually the most practical working assumption. So I personally consider myself a realist/materialist,

Open ##3124438