Brent Meeker writes (quoting Jason Resch):
> > If many-worlds is true, consider for a second how many histories> > lines (and copies of you) must have been created by now. The > > universe had been branching into untold numbers of copies, untold > > numbers of times each second, for billions of years before you were > > born. While not every branch contains you, once you appeared in one> > history line, a new copy of you has been created for every possible> > outcome of every quantum event that happens anywhere in this> > universe. > > I don't think this is the way to look at it. It's true that QM predicts an uncountably infinite number of branchings, even for an universe containing only a single unstable particle. But these branchings don't produce different copies of Stathis. As a big macroscopic object he is described by a reduced density matrix that has only extremely tiny off-diagonal terms. So he is a stable entity against these microscopic quantum events unless they are amplified so as to change his macroscopic state - as for example if he heard a geiger counter click. The microscopic events just add a little fuzz to his reduced density matrix - and the same for all of the classical world.> > You might be interested in Greg Egan's excellent SF story "Singleton" which is available online:> > ttp://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/MISC/SINGLETON/Singleton.html> > Egan says "People who professed belief in the MWI never seemed to want to take it seriously, let alone personally." So he wrote a story in which it is taken personally.> > Brent Meeker
Doesn't "a little fuzz" in an infinite number of branchings result in every possibility actually manifesting an infinite number of times?
Stathis Papaioannou
_________________________________________________________________
Live Search: New search found
http://get.live.com/search/overview
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group.
To post to this group, send email to everything-list.domain.name.hidden
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list-unsubscribe.domain.name.hidden
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Received on Sun Jan 28 2007 - 19:49:15 PST