On 10 January 2013 15:31, Bruno Marchal <[email protected]> wrote: *I am still not sure this does not simply add a layer of difficulty, > because it is not clear (to me) what can possibly be such a sampling.* >
Well, as I've said, there need be no mystery about it - it's just a way of examining one's thinking about observation in a very general way. I had a number of motivations for this idea, not the least of which is that it is more-or-less implied by the Deutsch or Barbour view of the multiverse, as Gary has commented on the FOAR list. I realise that this is not necessarily the case for CTM, so it has been interesting to discuss this possibility with you. I am not of course suggesting that individual consciousness is "literally" consequential on a single knower sampling discrete moments at random (indeed I have no idea what "literally" would mean in this connection). However I do find it instructive, in certain cases, to consider the matter *as if* this were the case. It helps (me, at least) to analyse issues of extended personal identity that can otherwise be extremely puzzling and difficult to resolve. As an example, think of the interminable argument over "who is who" after replication. According to Hoyle the answer to "which continuation is you" in such scenarios is: all of them (to some degree), but not all together. This formulation focuses attention specifically on the momentary and retrospective nature of subjective identification and spatio-temporal localisation, and the context-dependent resolution of questions of "before" and "after". IOW, subjectively speaking, moments just "happen" and the resolution of such happenings is always retrospective. This way of thinking can be of particular utility with respect to puzzles like Mitra's "changing the future by forgetting the past". David -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
