“The PPA: A New Approach to Anthropics” by Onid

LessWrong (30+ Karma) · Oct 15, 2026 · 26m

This is the first piece in a series introducing the Parametric Process Assumption (PPA), a new model of anthropics which allows us to resolve very nearly all anthropic paradoxes I am aware of. With the right prior, the PPA rejects both the Doomsday Argument and the Presumptuous Philosopher and can operate seamlessly over both finite and infinite universes.

The motivating idea behind the PPA is that there are really two different ways to interpret a statement like "the probability of X":

The Frequentist approach, where probabilities represent the convergence of random trials. Flip many coins…