02124    a2200205   450000100060000000300090000600500170001500800410003202000270007304000130010004100080011308200170012110000260013824500960016426000340026030000360029450400520033052015120038265000240189411368IN-BhIIT20260216163803.0260216b        |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  a978-0415883948  (pbk.)  aIN-BhIIT  aeng  a121.6bBOS/A  aBostrom, NickeAuthor  aAnthropic bias : bobservation selection effects in science amd philosophy /c Nick Bostrom  broutledge,c2010.aNew York :  axiii, 224 p. : bill. ;c19 cm.  aIncludes bibliographical references. and index.  aAnthropic 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.  aLimits of Knowledge