In my opinion the original post (barring the later comment by the author) does not imply that Q is the same in the real world and in the counterfactual world. Am I wrong here?
Then, if Omega is a trustworthy all-powerful device, it would not construct a counterfactual that is straight-out impossible just to play a trick on me. Therefore I conclude that the counterfactual amounts to running an identical scanner another time and getting a different result. But now I no longer think that it is an independent copy of the scanner -- actually it is completely dependent (it is determined to return a different answer), so I no longer think that the conclusion about the coins is fifty-fifty, but that we shouldn't update.
In my opinion the original post (barring the later comment by the author) does not imply that Q is the same in the real world and in the counterfactual world. Am I wrong here?
I have been assuming that Q is the same complicated formula in both worlds.
Consider the following thought experiment ("Counterfactual Calculation"):
Should you write "even" on the counterfactual test sheet, given that you're 99% sure that the answer is "even"?
This thought experiment contrasts "logical knowledge" (the usual kind) and "observational knowledge" (what you get when you look at a calculator display). The kind of knowledge you obtain by observing things is not like the kind of knowledge you obtain by thinking yourself. What is the difference (if there actually is a difference)? Why does observational knowledge work in your own possible worlds, but not in counterfactuals? How much of logical knowledge is like observational knowledge, and what are the conditions of its applicability? Can things that we consider "logical knowledge" fail to apply to some counterfactuals?
(Updateless analysis would say "observational knowledge is not knowledge" or that it's knowledge only in the sense that you should bet a certain way. This doesn't analyze the intuition of knowing the result after looking at a calculator display. There is a very salient sense in which the result becomes known, and the purpose of this thought experiment is to explore some of counterintuitive properties of such knowledge.)