Accession Number:
ADA522015
Title:
Physical and Metaphysical Counterfactuals
Descriptive Note:
Technical rept.
Corporate Author:
CALIFORNIA UNIV LOS ANGELES DEPT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
Personal Author(s):
Report Date:
2010-01-01
Pagination or Media Count:
13.0
Abstract:
In a previous publication I showed that counterfactuals grounded in decision making can be given interpretation in terms imaging - a process of mass-shifting among possible worlds. This paper elaborates on this interpretation and shows the converse imaging can be given an interpretation in terms of a stochastic decision policy in which agents choose actions with certain probabilities. This mapping, from the metaphysical to the physical, should be helpful in assessing whether metaphysically-inspired extensions of current interventional theories are warranted in a given decision making situation.
Subject Categories:
- Cybernetics