English

Solomonoff Induction Violates Nicod's Criterion

Machine Learning 2015-10-20 v1 Artificial Intelligence Statistics Theory Statistics Theory

Abstract

Nicod's criterion states that observing a black raven is evidence for the hypothesis H that all ravens are black. We show that Solomonoff induction does not satisfy Nicod's criterion: there are time steps in which observing black ravens decreases the belief in H. Moreover, while observing any computable infinite string compatible with H, the belief in H decreases infinitely often when using the unnormalized Solomonoff prior, but only finitely often when using the normalized Solomonoff prior. We argue that the fault is not with Solomonoff induction; instead we should reject Nicod's criterion.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1507.04121,
  title  = {Solomonoff Induction Violates Nicod's Criterion},
  author = {Jan Leike and Marcus Hutter},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1507.04121},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

ALT 2015

R2 v1 2026-06-22T10:12:09.586Z