Saying 'we really did observe them' is a lot less simple than saying 'they
exist'. Jacques and I agree, I think, that Occam is against you here.
James
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Russell Standish [SMTP:R.Standish.domain.name.hidden]
> Sent: Thursday, 04 May, 2000 2:19 AM
> To: jackmallah.domain.name.hidden
> Cc: everything-list.domain.name.hidden
> Subject: Re: this very moment
>
> Jacques Mallah wrote:
> >
> > --- Russell Standish <R.Standish.domain.name.hidden> wrote:
> > > There needs to be psychological time in which to
> > > unravel the history embedded in a single observer
> > > moment. Once one has psychological time, one may as
> > > well go the whole hog and have a complete history,
> > > with an infinite number of observer moments.
> > >
> > > Its an Occam thing. Nothing rules out a "Groundhog
> > > Day" type of effect, where we endlessly keep playing
> > > back a small piece of history (eg 1 day, or even 10
> > > seconds if you like), however I suspect this is
> > > a more complicated explanation (therefore of smaller
> > > measure) than just assuming that we live our whole
> > > lives.
> >
> > You were doing fine until that little word "we".
>
> I'm not sure what your point is here. It doesn't seem to relate to
> your following comment.
>
> > Other obsever-moments exist, but there's no reason to
> > insist that the ones that seem psychologically to be
> > in our past or future are really "the same person".
>
> Identity is based on recognition. If we recognise these other
> observer-moments as belonging to us, then surely the simplest
> explanation is that we really did observe them. I grant that it is
> logically possible for us _not_ to have experienced them - perhaps
> they were experienced by others, and implanted in our brains by aliens.
>
> >
> >
> > =====
> > - - - - - - -
> > Jacques Mallah (jackmallah.domain.name.hidden)
> > Physicist / Many Worlder / Devil's Advocate
> > "I know what no one else knows" - 'Runaway Train', Soul Asylum
> > My URL: http://hammer.prohosting.com/~mathmind/
> >
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> >
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Dr. Russell Standish Director
> High Performance Computing Support Unit, Phone 9385 6967
>
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Received on Thu May 04 2000 - 00:29:25 PDT