It's not so much the input of energy, it's the production of more entropy
where the energy is taken from.
On 17/04/2008, Telmo Menezes <telmo.domain.name.hidden> wrote:
>
>
> I would like to argue that in setting this experiment, energy is being
> expended to prevent the increase in entropy, albeit not in an obvious
> way.
>
> It is a trivial observation that systems may be devised that prevent
> increases in entropy by paying energy costs. One example is an ice
> cube in the freezer.
>
> In the case of this experiment, and assuming MWI, we are creating a
> scenario where the atomic decay is not possible from the
> experimenter's perspective. However, the experimenter is setting a
> system that includes the rifle and the geiger counter. Both these
> devices need energy to operate. Maybe it's just a convoluted version
> of the ice cube in the freezer?
>
> Best regards,
> Telmo Menezes.
>
> On Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 12:18 AM, nichomachus
>
> <Steven.Payne.Long.domain.name.hidden> wrote:
> >
>
> > In the description of the quantum immortality gedanken experiment, a
> > physicist rigs an automatic rifle to a geiger counter to fire into him
> > upon the detection of an atomic decay event from a bit of radioactive
> > material. If the many worlds hypothesis is true, the self-awareness of
> > the physicist will continue to find himself alive after any length of
> > time in front of his gun, since there exist parallel worlds where the
> > decay does not occur.
> >
> > On a microscopic scale this is analogous to the observing a reality in
> > which the second law of thermodynamics does not hold. for example,
> > since there is a non-zero probability that molecular interactions will
> > result in a decrease in entropy in a particular sealed volume under
> > observation, there exist histories in which this must be observed.
> >
> > This is never observed. Therefore the MWI is shown to be false.
> > >
> >
>
> >
>
--
"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-"
Last words of Gen. John Sedgwick, spoken as he looked out over the parapet
at enemy lines during the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
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 Thu Apr 17 2008 - 08:47:03 PDT