Anthropic bias : observation selection effects in science and philosophy / / Nick Bostrom

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910821258403321
• Autore: Bostrom Nick <1973->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New York : , : Routledge, , 2002
• ISBN: 0-203-95346-0; 1-136-71099-X; 1-136-71097-3
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (241 p.)
• Collana: Studies in philosophy
• Disciplina: 121/.6
• Soggetti: Methodology; Anthropic principle; Selectivity (Psychology); Observation (Scientific method)
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-217) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: ""Cover""; ""Title""; ""Copyright""; ""Dedication""; ""Contents""; ""ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS""; ""PREFACE""; ""Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION""; ""Observation selection effects""; ""A brief history of anthropic reasoning""; ""Synopsis of this book""; ""Chapter 2 FINE-TUNING IN COSMOLOGY""; ""Does fine-tuning need explaining?""; ""No “Inverse Gamblerâ€?s Fallacyâ€?""; ""Roger White and Phil Doweâ€?s analysis""; ""Surprising vs. unsurprising improbable events""; ""Modeling observation selection effects: the angel parable""; ""Preliminary conclusions""; ""Chapter 3 ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLES: THE MOTLEY FAMILY""; ""The anthropic principle as expressing an observation selection effect""""Anthropic hodgepodge""; ""Freak observers and why earlier formulations are inadequate""; ""The Self-Sampling Assumption""; ""Chapter 4 THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS SUPPORTING THE SELF-SAMPLING ASSUMPTION""; ""The Dungeon gedanken""; ""Two thought experiments by John Leslie""; ""The Incubator gedanken""; ""The reference class problem""; ""Chapter 5 THE SELF-SAMPLING ASSUMPTION IN SCIENCE""; ""SSA in cosmology""; ""SSA in thermodynamics""; ""SSA in evolutionary ; biology""; ""SSA in traffic analysis""; ""SSA in quantum physics""; ""Summary of the case for SSA""""Chapter 6 THE DOOMSDAY ARGUMENT""; ""Background""; ""Doomsayer Gott""; ""The incorrectness of Gottâ€?s argument""; ""Doomsayer Leslie""; ""The premisses of DA, and the Old evidence problem""; ""Leslieâ€?s views on the reference class problem""; ""Alternative conclusions of DA""; ""Chapter 7 INVALID OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE DOOMSDAY ARGUMENT""; ""Doesnâ€?t the Doomsday argument fail to “target the truthâ€??""; ""The “baby-paradoxâ€?""; ""Isnâ€?t a sample size of one too small?""; ""Couldnâ€?t a Cro-Magnon man have used the Doomsday argument?""; ""We can make the effect go away simply by considering a larger hypothesis space""""Arenâ€?t we necessarily alive now?""; ""Sliding reference of “soonâ€? and “lateâ€??""; ""How could I have been a 16th century human?""; ""Doesnâ€?t your theory presuppose that what happens in causally disconnected regions affects what happens here?""; ""But we know so much more about ourselves than our birth ranks!""; ""The Self-Indication Assumptionâ€?Is there safety in numbers?""; ""Chapter 8 OBSERVER-RELATIVE CHANCES IN ANTHROPIC REASONING?""; ""Leslieâ€?s argument, and why it fails""; ""Observer-relative chances: another go""""Discussion: indexical factsâ€?no conflict with physicalism""; ""In conclusion""; ""Appendix: the no-betting results""; ""Chapter 9 PARADOXES OF THE SELF-SAMPLING ASSUMPTION""; ""The Adam & Eve experiments""; ""Analysis of Lazy Adam: predictions and counterfactuals""; ""The UN++ gedanken: reasons and abilities""; ""Quantum Joe: SSA and the Principal Principle""; ""Upshot""; ""Appendix: The Meta-Newcomb problem""; ""Chapter 10 OBSERVATION SELECTION THEORY: A METHODOLOGY FOR ANTHROPIC REASONING""; ""Building blocks, theory constraints and desiderata""; ""The outline of a solution""