From: Stathis Papaioannou (stathisp@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Mar 11 2008 - 04:14:49 MDT
On 11/03/2008, John K Clark <johnkclark@fastmail.fm> wrote:
> > 100 copies of you are made in London and one copy
> > is made in Paris. The Paris copy is tortured while
> > the London copies are not tortured.
>
> So there is a 50% chance I will be tortured.
I don't see how you arrive at the 50% figure. Imagine that there are
101 identical copies of you carrying an apparently identical envelope.
Inside one envelope is a note saying "torture" while inside the other
100 envelopes is a note saying "no torture". Each of the copies knows
this information and has to guess what the note in his envelope says.
Assuming getting it right is important, isn't it best to guess that it
says "no torture"?
If the absolute number of all copies of me in the multiverse increased
a millionfold it would make no difference to me. But if the number of
copies of me holding a winning lottery ticket increased a millionfold
*relative* to all the other copies, that would make a difference.
-- Stathis Papaioannou
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