Chance in the Everett Interpretation
The concept of objective probability - chance - has three distinctive features: chances are measured by statistics, but only with high chance, increasing with the number of trials involved; when the chances of the outcomes of a chance process are known, even in the context of a single trial, then on...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book section |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2010
|
| _version_ | 1797092874721951744 |
|---|---|
| author | Saunders, S |
| author_facet | Saunders, S |
| author_sort | Saunders, S |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The concept of objective probability - chance - has three distinctive features: chances are measured by statistics, but only with high chance, increasing with the number of trials involved; when the chances of the outcomes of a chance process are known, even in the context of a single trial, then one's subjective probabilities - credences - in those outcomes should be set equal to those chances; and finally, chance processes involve uncertainty as to the outcomes of those processes. The second of these features is established for ratios in the squared norms of branches by the Born-rule theorem, proved in Chapter 8. This chapter shows that the first and third hold for those same quantities. All three characteristics of chance thus apply to branching in the Everett interpretation. In consequence, branching processes should be identified with chance processes, and ratios in the squared norms with chances. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:52:15Z |
| format | Book section |
| id | oxford-uuid:c1ab27e8-87b4-4a04-adb2-d137e20438b5 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:52:15Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:c1ab27e8-87b4-4a04-adb2-d137e20438b52022-03-27T06:03:16ZChance in the Everett InterpretationBook sectionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_3248uuid:c1ab27e8-87b4-4a04-adb2-d137e20438b5Symplectic Elements at OxfordOxford University Press2010Saunders, SThe concept of objective probability - chance - has three distinctive features: chances are measured by statistics, but only with high chance, increasing with the number of trials involved; when the chances of the outcomes of a chance process are known, even in the context of a single trial, then one's subjective probabilities - credences - in those outcomes should be set equal to those chances; and finally, chance processes involve uncertainty as to the outcomes of those processes. The second of these features is established for ratios in the squared norms of branches by the Born-rule theorem, proved in Chapter 8. This chapter shows that the first and third hold for those same quantities. All three characteristics of chance thus apply to branching in the Everett interpretation. In consequence, branching processes should be identified with chance processes, and ratios in the squared norms with chances. |
| spellingShingle | Saunders, S Chance in the Everett Interpretation |
| title | Chance in the Everett Interpretation |
| title_full | Chance in the Everett Interpretation |
| title_fullStr | Chance in the Everett Interpretation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chance in the Everett Interpretation |
| title_short | Chance in the Everett Interpretation |
| title_sort | chance in the everett interpretation |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT saunderss chanceintheeverettinterpretation |