2 ms·
If boltzmann brains were numerically dominant, then we would expect to be one, right?
by sullyj3 10y ago
If boltzmann brains were numerically dominant, then we would expect to be one, right?
- rocqua 10y agoOnly if they are indistinguishable from 'normal' brains.
- jessriedel 10y agoMaybe. It's highly contested. One popular argument against that claim (which I agree sounds reasonable on its face) is that it turns out to allow us to draw some strong conclusions about the universe which, intuitively, should not be possible to conclude from our armchair (the "presumptuous philosopher"). In the philosophy literature, this often is framed in terms of a choice between the self-indication assumption or the self-sampling assumption. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-sampling_assumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-sampling_assumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-indication_assumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-indication_assumption The canonical reference on this is Bostrom. https://www.amazon.com/Anthropic-Bias-Observation-Selection-Philosophy/dp/0415883946 https://www.amazon.com/Anthropic-Bias-Observation-Selection-... In the physics literature, this has been discussed as the assumption of "typicality". http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.75.123523 http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.75.123... http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.81.123524 http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.81.123... http://arxiv.org/abs/0707.4169 http://arxiv.org/abs/0707.4169 http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.78.023514 http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.78.023... Hartle and Srednicki's thought experiment involving the Jovians is a form of the presumptuous philosopher argument.
- iraphael 10y agoI also liked this explanation of the Typicality assumption http://scientifica.wikia.com/wiki/The_Typicality_Assumption http://scientifica.wikia.com/wiki/The_Typicality_Assumption