The Movie Graph Argument Revisited

TL;DR

This paper revisits the Movie Graph Argument, showing that the perceived incompatibility between computationalism and materialism depends on universe type, and explores implications within a Multiverse context.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the incompatibility is universe-dependent and analyzes the causal role of materiality under computationalism in a Multiverse setting.

Findings

Incompatibility appears only in classical-like universes.

Multiverse acceptance removes the incompatibility.

Material causality becomes derivable from arithmetic in a Multiverse.

Abstract

In this paper, we reexamine the Movie Graph Argument, which demonstrates a basic incompatibility between computationalism and materialism. We discover that the incompatibility is only manifest in singular classical-like universes. If we accept that we live in a Multiverse, then the incompatibility goes away, but in that case another line of argument shows that with computationalism, the fundamental, or primitive materiality has no causal influence on what is observed, which must must be derivable from basic arithmetic properties.