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Showing posts from September, 2014

All that can be known?

What is it that can actually be known in science? I suggest that all questions of science boil down to the following question: "What is the proportion of possible histories in which A happened that B also happened?" As an example: "What is the proportion of possible histories in which I ROLLED THIS DIE such that IT ENDS UP WITH 6 ON TOP?" Heuristically, we can say that the answer to this is (approximately) 1/6. 'Approximately', since there may be other factors that we are not aware of, the die could be waited for example.  Note that implicitly we are considering only a very small subset of possible histories beginning at the big bang. Namely ones that lead to a life-bearing planet on which humans evolved and eventually produced the intelligent(ish) bipedal life-form referred to in the question as "I". Further we are only considering histories in which I roll a die for some reason, perhaps I am playing Snakes and Ladders.