Re: Natural selection (spinoff from "History-less observer moments")

From: <GSLevy.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 19:08:05 EDT

In a message dated 05/18/2000 1:41:52 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
flipsu5.domain.name.hidden writes:

> Actually, James, I read something wild into your sentence, interpreting "
> competition" as the
> selection mechanism. That does strike me as more promising than Occam's
> razor. I am interested
> in pursuing this line of thought as a means of selecting not only ideas
> perceived to be correct,
> but also universes.
>
> Anthropic compatibility has traditionally been the criterion to select
> observed universes. It
> does not appear feasible to apply this analogously to ideas, though. But
> perhaps white rabbits
> are naturally disfavored in this scheme?
>
> Higgo James wrote:
>
> > It seems to me that a good way of selecting one idea over is [sic]
> competition is
> > Occam's razor
> >
>
>
Great Fred, I had exactly the same thought. The selection of ideas, just like
the selection of life forms, does not have to follow Occam. Otherwise we
would still be slime in the mud.

Anthropic selection is yet another kind of selection.

While natural selection (selection of the individual by the world) is 3rd
person effect, anthropy (selection of the world by the individual) is a 1st
person effect. They are identical except that the frame of reference is
different.

Interestingly, these processes seem to be acausal: the fittest survives
because it does. We see the world we see because we are alive to see it.

What I mean is that none of these processes involve a "force" of nature such
as gravitation or electromagnetism. They operate more at the logical level.
Can the conventional physical forces be explained by means of logic? Is the
foundation of the world actually logical? This, I think, is the road that
the computationalists are attempting to follow.

This whole issue involves measure, probabilities and wabbits, so it is very
controversial in this group.

I stongly believe that Occam does not operate at the anthropic level, just as
it does not operate at the Darwinian level, and that computation of measures
using Occam approach is highly suspect.

George
Received on Thu May 18 2000 - 16:21:13 PDT