Suppose (counterfactually) that counterfactual Omega asked counterfactual you what factual Omega should write in the factual test (ignoring what factual you actually does, of course). Should the answer (the instruction to Omega to write either "even" or "odd") be the opposite in this counterfactual case than it the case you originally presented?
So far, shokwave clearly gets it. Compare to any other sophisticated question asked in a language you aren't familiar with. Here, you need to be sufficiently comfortable with counterfactuals, for the number of its usages in a problem statement not to act as a pattern for ridiculousness.
it seems that you think that the result on the calculator affects some kind of objective probability that Q is even - a probability that is the same in both factual and counterfactual worlds.
I don't think that.
All probability is subjective. Evidence observed in one world has no influence on counterfactual worlds where the evidence did not appear.
I don't see how "subjective" helps here. It's not clear what sense of "influence" you intend.
It's not clear what sense of "influence" you intend.
I intended to include whatever causes your answer to Omega in this world to make a difference in what counterfactual Omega writes on the paper in the counterfactual world.
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.)