(08-06-2016, 10:08 PM)GhylTarvoke Wrote: Why should you be surprised to wake up on the ARK? No matter what, one copy will wake up on the ARK, and one copy will wake up at Phi; until you open your eyes, you have no reason to believe that you're in one place or the other.
It depends on how you view probability. Suppose I flip a coin and then cover it with my hand. What's the probability that it's tails? One school of thought would say the probability is 1/2, because there are two equally likely outcomes. Another school of thought would say the probability is either 0 or 1, because the coin has already been flipped.
IMO there is no probability, because unlike a coin toss where the winner is random, in SOMA who wins and who loses is predefined.
The original will lose, and the copy will win. If you have not yet made the scan of yourself, that means you are the original, and you will lose, and you will know that the moment you sit down in the scanner.
So every copy, will be a new instance who expected to lose, until he realises he's the new entity.
The "coin toss" isn't really a good way of explaining Simon's luck. And it only makes sense in the game because the game changes vantage point. First you play in the apartment, then in Simon-2's body and then in Simon 3's. But if you were Simon 3, then what happened previously you never did any of that, those are just memories that carried over when your copy was made.Simon didn't fully understand the scanning process either, which is why he was so confused or frustrated, because he expected to win even though the scan initiator could never "win" or have his mind carried over.