Variations in measure

From: <hal.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2001 12:57:16 -0800

One of the concepts we have explored is that all universes and hence
all minds exist, but that some observer-moments have greater "measure"
than others. This may help to explain why we observe the kind of universe
that we do, because we must be observer-moments that have relatively
large measure.

I wonder if it would be possible for the measure of an individual
to vary over the course of his lifetime. We do expect the measure
to fall as he ages, as he comes to occupy fewer and fewer universes.
However there may be other ways that his measure could change.

For example, suppose he took a drug which made his mental processes
become confused. He was no longer sure of basic facts about himself
and the universe. This mental state would no longer be bound to one
specific universe. Instead, a large collection of distinct universes
could be consistent with this mental state. These observer-moments
might therefore have larger measure, since they would correspond to a
larger part of the multiverse.

In general, one might expect those minds with less observational power
and less specific knowledge and understanding of the universe to have
larger measure.

Does this have any implications for the use of the all-universe hypothesis
to explain and predict our observations?

Hal
Received on Sat Dec 08 2001 - 13:02:34 PST