From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Tue Mar 04 2003 - 23:59:55 MST
Mitch pointed out
> http://xxx.lanl.gov/list/gr-qc/new
> Title: Philosophical Implications of Inflationary Cosmology
> Authors: Joshua Knobe, Ken D. Olum, Alexander Vilenkin
Thanks a million! This is almost as good as Tegmark's.
The central, compelling, and overwhelming fact: the theory
of Inflation, accepted by roughly 95% of cosmologists, calmly
predicts an infinity of Earths of any given description.
The philosophical implications are simply staggering. No
longer can I be "The Speaker for the Uninstantiated", as
I used to aspire. I even must retract "It is our duty to
rescue as many people from non-existence as possible",
which I have been claiming for fifteen years!
Why? Very simply because everyone already exists. I had
been aware that this was an implication of MWI, and Hal
had even stated as much on this list a few months ago.
But an *interpretation* of QM, coupled with the "ghostly"
feel of the Other Worlds, combine to render the existence
of every possible person and alien moot.
But now, nothing could be more concrete. From the simple
assumptions of the concordant universe, i.e., the homogeneous
universe first proclaimed by Saint Bruno in 1600, inflation
proves universal existence.
It remains for us only to determine how much run time people
---including ourselves---are to get. And of course, any
answer failing to specify the maximum possible fails to
attain the highest morality.
Lee
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