Yoreth comments on The mathematical universe: the map that is the territory - Less Wrong

68 Post author: ata 26 March 2010 09:26AM

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Comment author: Yoreth 26 March 2010 08:59:37PM 0 points [-]

Suppose we had a G.O.D. that takes N bits of input, and uses the input as a starting-point for running a simulation. If the input contains more than one simulation-program, then it runs all of them.

Now suppose we had 2^N of these machines, each with a different input. The number of instantiations of any given simulation-program will be higher the shorter the program is (not just because a shorter bit-string is by itself more likely, but also because it can fit multiple times on one machine). Finally, if we are willing to let the number of machines shrink to zero, the same probability distribution will still hold. So a shorter program (i.e. more regular universe) is "more likely" than a longer/irregular one.

(All very speculative of course.)