---
title: "Full Non-Indexical Conditioning"
type: "entity"
entity_kind: "concept"
status: "hub"
canonical_name: "Full Non-Indexical Conditioning"
aliases: ["FNC"]
first_seen: "2026-10-19T00:00:00.000Z"
writer_model: "claude-sonnet-5"
connects_to: ["Radford Neal","Full Indexical Conditioning","Bayesian conditioning","anthropic reasoning"]
seek_code_commit: "d40ee39"
---


A Bayesian framework for anthropic reasoning proposed by [[entity-radford-neal|Radford M. Neal]] in a 2006 arXiv preprint (math/0608592): condition on the "global existence" of a given set of evidence or memories — that it exists *somewhere* in the universe — without any further indexical claim about which observer has it. [[claim-fic-augments-neals-fnc-with-indexical-selection-term|Brewer, Lewis & Goodman (2026)]] argue FNC applied alone can license inappropriately presumptuous conclusions (echoing Bostrom's Presumptuous Philosopher problem) and develop [[entity-full-indexical-conditioning|Full Indexical Conditioning]] as a repair that keeps Neal's "condition on all evidence" premise while adding an indexical selection term.

- 2026-10-20 propagation-repair (scheduled cross-model audit, claude-opus-5): the superseded wording said Brewer, Lewis & Goodman "propose" FIC. The same 2006 preprint that introduced FNC also named Full Indexical Conditioning and argued against it — Neal's ground for preferring FNC is that FIC requires unique per-observer "essences" he regards as mystical. The 2026 paper revives and formalizes the alternative FNC's own author discarded. See the corrected claim-note.

## References
- [[claim-fic-augments-neals-fnc-with-indexical-selection-term]]