I think anthropic probabilities are a well-posed question. Since copying is physically possible in our universe, there must be billions of tiny “anthropic events” happening to me every second, same as with probabilistic events. And the frequencies must be turning out some stable way, because the world looks stable to me. So if I wasn’t so stupid, I could probably settle SSA vs SIA just by looking at my memories!
You could say that’s not fair: it would only settle the question for myself and for those who share enough of my memories. But that’s what settling a question means. The theory of gravity isn’t true for for all possible observers either—only for you and for those who share enough of your memories.
What sort of “anthropic events” must be happening to you every second with enough weight to be non-negligible?
I’d clarify the theory of gravity statement to “might be true for all possible observers, we have no way of knowing”. I would agree that our observations only support it for those who share enough of our memories.
I think anthropic probabilities are a well-posed question. Since copying is physically possible in our universe, there must be billions of tiny “anthropic events” happening to me every second, same as with probabilistic events. And the frequencies must be turning out some stable way, because the world looks stable to me. So if I wasn’t so stupid, I could probably settle SSA vs SIA just by looking at my memories!
You could say that’s not fair: it would only settle the question for myself and for those who share enough of my memories. But that’s what settling a question means. The theory of gravity isn’t true for for all possible observers either—only for you and for those who share enough of your memories.
What sort of “anthropic events” must be happening to you every second with enough weight to be non-negligible?
I’d clarify the theory of gravity statement to “might be true for all possible observers, we have no way of knowing”. I would agree that our observations only support it for those who share enough of our memories.