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> This is sort of like the Boltzmann brain idea but even worse because it applies to any set of relations. According to Egan’s argument all possible experience
by MiroF 6y ago
> This is sort of like the Boltzmann brain idea but even worse because it applies to any set of relations. According to Egan’s argument all possible experiences that can be computed by any sufficiently complex set of relations are in fact computed by them.
This idea seems identical to the Boltzmann brain hypothesis and I don't understand how this paragraph differentiates it at all.
- ardy42 6y ago>> This is sort of like the Boltzmann brain idea but even worse because it applies to any set of relations. According to Egan’s argument all possible experiences that can be computed by any sufficiently complex set of relations are in fact computed by them. > This idea seems identical to the Boltzmann brain hypothesis and I don't understand how this paragraph differentiates it at all. I don't claim to totally understand this, but my impression is "Dust Theory" implies that the mind is more frequently simulated than in "Boltzmann brain" theory. IIRC, the latter imagines a literally brain being formed briefly out of matter.
- MiroF 6y ago> IIRC, the latter imagines a literally brain being formed briefly out of matter. I see. FWIW I think that is a very narrow reading of the Boltzmann brain hypothesis and while it may have been true to when it was first presented, I think the general "brain as abstract relations that can be simulated by physical systems" Boltzmann brain is what most contemporary cosmologists are talking about.