On 09 Jun 2014, at 03:58, Russell Standish wrote:
On Mon, Jun 09, 2014 at 09:48:27AM +1200, LizR wrote:
On 9 June 2014 00:30, Bruno Marchal <[email protected]> wrote:
The same with the MWI: we still have the ability to partially
chose the
type of future we want to belong. We can influence the statistics
of the
normal realities. This makes the end of the second paragraph
correct with
respect to comp: we cannot predict the futures notably due to the
presence
of persons, which can refute the predictions, or even just makes
them wrong
by sheer intrinsic complexity of the machines with introspective
power.
I knew someone - gosh, it was almost 25 years ago! - who believed
that we
can choose our future from the ones made available by the MWI. He
even had
a couple of anecdotes of occasions when he thought he'd done so.
And he was
a very good writer, although I don't know if he every got
published. He was
also a member of the Society for Psychical Research, just to round
out the
thumbnail sketch ... a tall guy with frizzy hair (perhaps not so
now). I am
trying to recall his name, not having thought about him much in the
last
1/4 century... anyway, he had this idea that space-time was like a
vast
railway marshalling yard and we could choose which rains to run
along. I
always wondered what happened to the other "mes" who didn't get to
go on
those lines?
Do you really think we can do this? I'd like to think so, but I
can't see
how it would work in practice.
I changed the thread topic, as this is a long way from "tronnies".
I, for one, do not think it such a crazy idea.
When I was a child, I used to chant silently 3 times the outcome I
wanted before rolling a dice. Surprisingly, it seemed to work
(although I could easily have been deluded by various sorts of
selective memory effects).
Or "bad" luck.
Of course it it worked to the point of
changing objective outcomes, that truly would be miraculous.
Keeping computationalism, this would put the subst level much more
lower than usual.
However,
it always seemd that it might be possible to influence the subjective
probabilities for future branches we occupy in the Multiverse. In a
rather less controversial way we already do this by choosing which
basis set to measure - if we choose to measure in the position
basis, it
is not surprising that the probability of ending up in a future with a
well defined momentum result is therefore zero.
OK. More generally, all the decision we make in the normal worlds
(those with measure one or one minus epsilon) influence the outcome in
the normal world. If not there would simply be no physical laws.
It was pointed out on this list that this implies zombies exist.
Yes, again, if you can force your consciousness to select a WM or QM
branches.
Well
it would if the probability of a future branch truly goes to zero, but
not if the effect is to say favour branch A by ten times branch B,
where objectively branch A and B are equally probable. Whatever method
is employed to do this, it must sometimes fail (otherwise zombies
would indeed exist!).
Indeed.
So perhaps it is possible to will changes in subjective probability,
but knowledge of that phenomenon will never be scientifically
communicable to other people. It would be another example from what
Brun describes as G*\G, a noncommunicable truth.
I think it would be wrong. The feeling that is is true would be a
delusion, like the guy living the WWWWWW... experiences wiuld be
unable to NOT believe "I will see W" is a law, despite it is not.
Anyway, just my two bits. I don't know why I didn't discuss this idea
in my book.
They still want books with a finite number of pages those days :)
Cheers,
Bruno
Cheers
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile)
Principal, High Performance Coders
Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected]
University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au
Latest project: The Amoeba's Secret
(http://www.hpcoders.com.au/AmoebasSecret.html)
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