RE: Conventional QTI = False

From: Charles Goodwin <cgoodwin.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 09:50:48 +1200

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jacques Mallah [mailto:jackmallah.domain.name.hidden]
>
> >From: Russell Standish <R.Standish.domain.name.hidden>
> >I suspect you are trying to find ways of making QTI compatible with
> >Jacques ASSA based argument, when it is clear his argument fails
> >completely. Not that the argument is unimportant, as the reasons for
> >the failure are also interesting.
>
> What the hell are you babbling about?

I don't know whether he's thinking about my objections to the SSA argument, but mine certainly *appear* to undermine it (at least I
haven't yet heard a good reason why they don't). Briefly, (1) the SSA argument neglects the fact that even with an infinitely long
worldline, everyone must pass through every age from 0 upwards, which is precisely what we observe. It also (2) ignores a selection
effect, namely that only in a thermodynamically low number of universes can a person who is not "QTI-old" expect to communicate with
someone who *is* (and hence 99.999999999999...% of discussion groups will necessarily be composed of "QTI-young" people). The SSA
argument also (3) gives the strong impression (though this could *perhaps* be argued away) that it relies on us treating our
worldlines as though we've just been "dropped" into them at some random point, like Billy Pilgrim; which is, of course, not what
happens in reality.

Maybe there are some more technical objections to the SSA argument, but these are the simplest and most obvious.

Charles
Received on Tue Sep 11 2001 - 14:48:01 PDT