On 2/10/2015 2:08 pm, Jason Resch wrote:
On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 2:20 AM, Bruce Kellett
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
On 1/10/2015 4:08 pm, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On 30 Sep 2015, at 10:10 PM, Bruce Kellett
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
On 1/10/2015 12:44 am, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
In an infinite random sequence of numbers it is possible that
my phone number appears once and never repeats, while other
eight digit sequences appear multiple times; but I wouldn't
bet on it.
An infinite random sequence of digits has certain well-defined
probabilistic properties. In particular, ll digits are equally
likely, and all sequences of any particular length are equally
likely. If that were not so, the sequence would not be random.
So your phone number will occur many times. But this is not a
good analogy because it relies of the definition of a random
sequence of digits. We do not have any comparable uniformity
definition for a collection of universes.
A good guess is that the universe is infinite and every
configuration of atoms repeats. If it is not infinite then a
given configuration may not repeat. It could also be infinite but
only some patterns repeat - others do not. There might be
infinite copies of Mars, but only one Earth. That would be
strange, but possible. That's what I thought you were proposing
to fill an infinite universe with.
Such would be a completely unevidenced guess -- no better than any
other.
No it is a consequence of inflation, which has a lot a of evidentiary
support.
Even if the universe is infinite, there may be patterns (of zero
measure) which do not repeat.
We know the pattern containing you and Earth is possible. So why do
you think it would only happen once in an infinite universe filled
with an infinite (and exponentially growing) number of Big Bangs? As
inflation implies.
In any event, it was never my intention to ague this is true, only
that it's not so clear that we don't need to consider the consequences
of there existing exact duplicates of our conscious states out there,
whether that be in other simulated realities, in our own universe very
far away, in future mind upload scenarios, in the many worlds of
quantum mechanics, in the landscape of possible string theory
universes, or in the Marchal/Tegmark/Standish conceptions of all
computational, mathematical, or informational structures.
My intention was to point out that the existence of identical "copies"
of you outside your past or future light cone is of absolutely no
relevance to your present existence, continuing or not. If such
purported copies are relevant, demonstrate how they are relevant.
I don't think that the existence of these "copies" is in any way
implied, or even made likely, by physical theories such as inflation,
since even if those theories accurately describe our universe, a lot of
additional assumption (for which there is no independent evidence) need
to be made.
Bruce
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