02191 a2200229 4500 11368 IN-BhIIT 20260216163803.0 260216b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d 978-0415883948 (pbk.) IN-BhIIT eng 121.6 BOS/A Bostrom, Nick Author 20473 Anthropic bias : observation selection effects in science amd philosophy / Nick Bostrom routledge, 2010. New York : xiii, 224 p. : ill. ; 19 cm. Includes bibliographical references. and index. Anthropic 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. Limits of Knowledge 27250 TRB 15285 15285 0 0 ddc 0 0 SHSSM CLIITBBS CLIITBBS 2026-01-28 52 4281.35 0 121.6 BOS/A 11368 2026-01-28 00:00:00 5864.86 2026-01-28 TRB