What is an observer moment?

From: George Levy <glevy.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 20:33:39 -0700

A lot of confusion seems to arise about what an observer-moment is. I
would like to propose the following distinction between a physical
observer-moment and a psychological observer moment, along the same
lines that I discussed under the thread copying.

A physical observer moment is defined by an observer physical quantum
state accompanied by the set of all consistent histories justifying this
state. It requires and includes a causal light cone to be drawn from
that point extending toward the past (and expending toward the future).
Hence a given physical OM includes several pasts and multiple futures.
Because of the QM Non-cloning theorem two identical physical OMs cannot
be copied. In addition because two identical OMs must comprise identical
causal cones they must be one and the same in the same visible universe.
Of course copies may exist beyond the causal cone or in other universes.

Since a physical OM cannot be copied, the measure of a physical OM
cannot be increased within the causal cone.

A psychological observer moment is defined by a set of observer states
which cannot be distinguished from each other by a subjective test
performed by the observer. This definition is significantly looser than
the one for physical observer-moment. Thus a single psychological
observer moment can encompass a large number of physical observer
moments. Note that according to this definition the set of observer
states may also encompass states with inconsistent histories as long as
they are indistinguishable. (I am not sure if I should enforce
"consistent histories" on psychological OMs by replacing "observer
states" by "physical observer moments")

The consideration of what is the measure of a psychological observer
moment forces us to differentiate between physical first person and
psychological first person.

 From a physical first person point of view, a psychological OM can
include multiple physical OMs and therefore can have a high or low
measure. However, from a psychological first person point of view, since
all the physical OMs are indistinguishable, the measure cannot be
increased by increasing the number of physical OMs.

An interesting thought is that a psychological first person can surf
simultaneously through a large number of physical OMs.


George Levy
Received on Tue Jun 21 2005 - 00:07:18 PDT