Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Bookmarks and Doomsday

Author:Eric Soroos
Posted:8/16/2000; 9:53:30 PM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 8/13/2000
Msg #:19766 (In response to 19764)
Prev/Next:19765 / 19767

A more direct statistical argument:

P( a or not a ) = 1
P( you or not you ) = 1
p( you ) = 1- P( not you )

So the real question is, do you exist?

or

If we put you in a sealed box and didn't look, would you half exist and half not exist? At the same time?

Or perhaps you want to argue from the line of:

What is the probabability that you exist given the number of possible other existences. (it's something like infinity/(infinity^infinity), (or replace infinity with something on the order of 10^80 and probably more confusingly phrased as 'what is the probability of the universe's current quantum state'.) Which can be rounded off to a very small number. )

So based on faulty statistics, hand waving quantum mechanics, and round off error, we can conclude that the probablilty that you exist in your current state is ... 0.

We shall conclude this post with a hymn: 

So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure, 
How amazingly unlikely is your birth; 
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space, 
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!

Lyrics Credit Eric Idle/ Monty Python.

eric

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