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244 | Katie Elliott on Metaphysics, Chance, and Explanation
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
The Importance of Observationally Equivalent Theories
"I'm willing to consider the thought experiment where there aren't any experiments we could do," he says. "If my best theory of the universe is here are the laws of physics, and I'm a brain in a vat versus here are thelaws of physics, here are the initial conditions ... both of those theories make exactly the same predictions." If they're observationally equivalent, if they don't say anything different across the board, it's not worth worrying about which one is more explanatory, he adds. 'We shouldn't worry about these like very high-flute questions'
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