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_(First real Lesswrong post! Wow. This is a post on an idea I thought might be interesting to some people here, and I'd love to hear thoughts on it.)_
Assumption can be used as a communicative tool.
As a kid I would occasionally, before falling asleep, lie in bed and imagine that I had a very good friend to talk to, or who could cheer me on. Sometimes these were characters from my favorite books, but apparently at some point it occurred to me that presumably someone, somewhere, could be supposed to have anticipated someone else in the world feeling that way at some point, and might actually have wanted to send that someone a message of comfort, love, or support. At this point, all I had to do was imagine roughly what they might say, consider it to be said, and the message would have been received. To put it differently, I was aware that many, probably most, of the people in the world, knowing that I felt lonely, might have wanted to send me their blessings or support, and that presumably, at least one person who felt that way, over all space and time, probably realized that he could _send me_ that message, provided I was smart enough to realize he might try to.
So I could "communicate" with people, when the purpose was therapeutic in that way - I couldn't actually receive ideas I couldn't have thought of myself (by definition), but when it was the communication itself and not the words that mattered, I could receive the messages left for me by people who had found this mental space that was created by the assumption that others would _._ If I wanted to give as well as receive, I could "leave" messages too, for any future or past thinker, lonely or otherwise, to assume exist. Despite the obvious drawback of not being able to receive any idea you couldn't have thought of yourself, this communication does allow you to completely bypass constraints of language, time and space.
Assumption is famously used in problems where the goal is to meet with someone over varying areas when you have no (other) mode of communication. I personally had idly wondered for some years what the best way to meet with someone spoken to by assumption would be (assuming they had also considered the possibility of meeting). I remained stuck for quite some time wondering whether it was the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building that would be the best place to go at midnight, January first, with a big sign reading "You know why you're here. Talk to me", before realizing that the appropriate place on the internet was probably a much more logical rendezvous (thought that is not the main motive for me in writing here - I've wanted to contribute to LessWrong for some time now).
Just as another point of thought, communication through assumption could in theory be used to create intellectual taboos or norms among intelligent people, for example an accepted and implicit censoringof certain ideas or beliefs that could be realized by anyone smart enough to arrive at them as being unsuitable for spreading (I really hope this isn't one of those).
So:
- Do you know anyone who has beaten me to writing about this? Please direct me to the source if so. (I hope not, but I do hope it has been thought about before, otherwise I've been played for quite a fool).
- Do you think this idea is worth anything? Other than game theory, in what other fields or ways could it be used?
- Have I ever spoken to _you_ telepathically before? If so, please write. That could be a very interesting conversation.