Tuesday, December 25, 2012

9407002 (Tomas Kopf et al.)

Too Soon for Doom Gloom?    [PDF]

Tomas Kopf, Pavel Krtous, Don N. Page
The observation that we are among the first 10^{11} or so humans reduces the prior probability that we find ourselves in a species whose total lifetime number of individuals is much higher, according to arguments of Carter, Leslie, Nielsen, and Gott. However, if we instead start with a prior probability that a history has a total lifetime number which is very large, without assuming that we are in such a history, this more basic probability is not reduced by the observation of how early in history we exist.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/9407002

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