Consider the counterfactual where the calculator displayed "odd" instead of "even", after you've just typed in the formula Q.
This consists of just reapplying the algorithm or re-reading the previous paragraph with "even" replaced with "odd", so the answer should be 99% odd.
This is based on my understanding of counterfactual as considering what you would do in some hypothetical alternate branch 'what-if'.
This is based on my understanding of counterfactual as considering what you would do in some hypothetical alternate branch 'what-if'.
Vladmir explicitly ruled out caring what your counterfactual self would do:
(the actions of your counterfactual self who takes the test in the counterfactual are ignored).
Consider the following thought experiment ("Counterfactual Calculation"):
Should you write "even" on the counterfactual test sheet, given that you're 99% sure that the answer is "even"?
This thought experiment contrasts "logical knowledge" (the usual kind) and "observational knowledge" (what you get when you look at a calculator display). The kind of knowledge you obtain by observing things is not like the kind of knowledge you obtain by thinking yourself. What is the difference (if there actually is a difference)? Why does observational knowledge work in your own possible worlds, but not in counterfactuals? How much of logical knowledge is like observational knowledge, and what are the conditions of its applicability? Can things that we consider "logical knowledge" fail to apply to some counterfactuals?
(Updateless analysis would say "observational knowledge is not knowledge" or that it's knowledge only in the sense that you should bet a certain way. This doesn't analyze the intuition of knowing the result after looking at a calculator display. There is a very salient sense in which the result becomes known, and the purpose of this thought experiment is to explore some of counterintuitive properties of such knowledge.)