ANTHROPIC BIAS by Nick Bostrom ( 9780415883948 ) - Books & Audio Books at Pickabook.co.uk

Item Details

Title:

ANTHROPIC BIAS
OBSERVATION SELECTION EFFECTS IN SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY

By:

Nick Bostrom

Format:

Paperback

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£46.99

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£42.29

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£4.70

ISBN 10:

0415883946

ISBN 13:

9780415883948

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Publisher:

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

Pub. date:

18 June, 2010

Pages:

244

Synopsis:

Anthropic Bias explores how to reason when you suspect that your evidence is biased by "observation selection effects"--that is, evidence that has been filtered by the precondition that there be some suitably positioned observer to "have" the evidence. This conundrum--sometimes alluded to as "the anthropic principle," "self-locating belief," or "indexical information"--turns out to be a surprisingly perplexing and intellectually stimulating challenge, one abounding with important implications for many areas in science and philosophy. There are the philosophical thought experiments and paradoxes: the Doomsday Argument; Sleeping Beauty; the Presumptuous Philosopher; Adam & Eve; the Absent-Minded Driver; the Shooting Room. And there are the applications in contemporary science: cosmology ("How many universes are there?", "Why does the universe appear fine-tuned for life?"); evolutionary theory ("How improbable was the evolution of intelligent life on our planet?"); the problem of time's arrow ("Can it be given a thermodynamic explanation?"); quantum physics ("How can the many-worlds theory be tested?"); game-theory problems with imperfect recall ("How to model them?"); even traffic analysis ("Why is the 'next lane' faster?"). Anthropic Bias argues that the same principles are at work across all these domains. And it offers a synthesis: a mathematically explicit theory of observation selection effects that attempts to meet scientific needs while steering clear of philosophical paradox.

Publication:

Imprint:

Routledge

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ANTHROPIC BIAS