Related papers: Probability as typicality
Probability-like parameters appearing in some statistical models, and their prior distributions, are reinterpreted through the notion of `circumstance', a term which stands for any piece of knowledge that is useful in assigning a…
Philosophers now seem to agree that frequentism is an untenable strategy to explain the meaning of probabilities. Nevertheless, I want to revive frequentism, and I will do so by grounding probabilities on typicality in the same way as the…
In this paper two hypotheses are developed. The first hypothesis is the existence of random phenomena/experiments in which the events cannot generally be assigned a definite probability but that nevertheless admit a class of nearly certain…
Classical probability theory supports probability measures, assigning a fixed positive real value to each event, these measures are far from satisfactory in formulating real-life occurrences. The main innovation of this paper is the…
A popular view in contemporary Boltzmannian statistical mechanics is to interpret the measures as typicality measures. In measure-theoretic dynamical systems theory measures can similarly be interpreted as typicality measures. However, a…
In this article we propose a solution to the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. We point out that the measurement problem can be traced to an a priori notion of classicality in the formulation of quantum mechanics. If this notion of…
A critical examination of some basic conceptual issues in classical statistical mechanics is attempted, with a view to understanding the origins, structure and statuts of that discipline. Due attention is given to the interplay between…
Bayesian probability theory is used to analyze the oft-made assumption that humans are typical observers in the universe. Some theoretical calculations make the {\it selection fallacy} that we are randomly chosen from a class of objects by…
A measure of complexity based on a probabilistic description of physical systems is proposed. This measure incorporates the main features of the intuitive notion of such a magnitude. It can be applied to many physical situations and to…
We analyze the notion that physical theories are quantitative and testable by observations in experiments. This leads us to propose a new, Bayesian, interpretation of probabilities in physics that unifies their current use in classical…
This expository paper advocates an approach to physics in which ``typicality" is identified with a suitable form of algorithmic randomness. To this end various theorems from mathematics and physics are reviewed. Their original versions…
Quantum typicality refers to the phenomenon that the expectation values of any given observable are nearly identical for the overwhelming majority of all normalized vectors in a sufficiently high-dimensional Hilbert (sub-)space. As a…
Subjective probability is based on the intuitive idea that probability quantifies the degree of belief that an event will occur. A probability theory based on this idea represents the most general framework for handling uncertainty. A brief…
Let $\xi$ be a random measure on a locally compact second countable topological group and let $X$ be a random element in a measurable space on which the group acts. In the compact case, we give a natural definition of the concept that the…
The aim of this paper is to show that the concept of probability is best understood by dividing this concept into two different types of probability, namely physical probability and analogical probability. Loosely speaking, a physical…
Randomness is viewed through an analogy between a physical quantity, density of gas, and a mathematical construct -- probability density. Boltzmann's deduction of equilibrium distribution of ideal gas placed in an external potential field…
Bayesian statistics is based on the subjective definition of probability as {\it ``degree of belief''} and on Bayes' theorem, the basic tool for assigning probabilities to hypotheses combining {\it a priori} judgements and experimental…
We discuss a general definition of likelihood function in terms of Radon-Nikod\'{y}m derivatives. The definition is validated by the Likelihood Principle once we establish a result regarding the proportionality of likelihood functions under…
Though the ability of human beings to deal with probabilities has been put into question, the assessment of rarity is a crucial competence underlying much of human decision-making and is pervasive in spontaneous narrative behaviour. This…
When at equilibrium, large-scale systems obey conventional thermodynamics because they belong to microscopic configurations (or states) that are typical. Crucially, the typical states usually represent only a small fraction of the total…