Re: being inside a universe

From: Brent Meeker <meekerdb.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 2002 21:40:30 -0700

On 02-Jul-02, Wei Dai wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 27, 2002 at 03:59:49PM +0200, Bruno Marchal
> wrote:
>> Now, and we have discussed this before, I have no
>> understanding of the expression "being inside a
>> universe".

> Being inside a universe to me means having a causal
> relationship with the universe, in other words being able
> to affect it through decisions and actions. That leads to
> the question of what causal relationships are and how do
> you formalize them.

> Fortunately I've now read most of _The Foundations of
> Causal Decision Theory_, by James M. Joyce, and can
> recommend it for a discussion of causality. This is also a
> great book for learning about decision theory in general,
> and I highly recommend it to everyone here.

Is this consistent with you being part of the universe and
governed by whatever laws of physics apply - or does it
assume a one-way causality? You influence the universe
throught your "free will" - which is outside the physical
laws.

Brent Meeker
"Sin is hoping for another life and eluding the
implacable grandeur of this life."
         -- Albert Camus (1913-1960)
Received on Tue Jul 02 2002 - 21:38:17 PDT