On Thu, Aug 15, 2002 at 11:28:28PM +0200, Saibal Mitra wrote: > I think that the difference is that invoking the SIA does not affect the > conclusion of the paper.
Why do you say that? I think SIA affects the conclusion of the paper the same way it affects the Doomsday argument. It's kind of funny that the authors of this paper is playing the role of the presumptuous philosopher (in the thought experiment I just discussed in a previous post), except they're physicists, and they're making the opposite argument (in favor of the hypothesis that implies fewer observers rather than the one that implies more observers).
