Re: Quantum Time Travel

From: Jacques Mallah <jackmallah.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 12:37:59 -0700 (PDT)

--- Russell Standish <R.Standish.domain.name.hidden> wrote:
> > You're playing with words. The point is a
> > measure distribution must be measure *of
> > something*. Thus it makes no sense to speak
> > of "the measure distribution"
> > given a wavefunction, unless you state what it is
> > measure *of*. The only measure distribution we
> > have been dealing with in that context is of
> > observer-moments. I call that M(c)

> Not at all true. A lot of discussion has taken place
> in this list re
> measure of strings in a Schmidhuber plenitude.

    Which is not in "that context", of a wavefunction.

> Measure is always taken to be the strength or
> density of a particular object from within an
> ensemble (continuous or otherwise) of
> objects. It is readily related to a sampling
> probability when the
> measure distribution is normalisable.
>
> Schroedinger's equation gives a measure distribution
> for outcomes of particular observables, given
> certain constraints (a Hamiltonian and a
> boundary condition).
> An observer moment must be the conjunction of
> some vast array of observables having particular
> values.

    Really? Are you saying that the Sh. eq. gives a
measure distribution for "outcomes" of "observables"
even when there are no obserrver-moments? What is
that supposed to mean?
    If by "observables" you mean Hermitian operators,
how does the Sh. eq. do the above?
    My view, as I have stated repeatedly, is that it
should be possible to derive a measure distribution
for computations implemented by a physical system and
that given a wavefunction & the Sh. eq., it should be
possible to show that the ratios of the measures of
appropriate computations that could be conscious (if
present, e.g if there is a brain in the system) to the
total measure of such are the usual effective
probabilities.

> My own preference is to talk about a quantum
> history, which under some
> (perhaps rather flaky) assumptions, could be
> identified with the concept of observer moment.

    What's a "quantum history"? Any relation to the
"consistent histories interpretation"?


=====
- - - - - - -
               Jacques Mallah (jackmallah.domain.name.hidden)
         Physicist / Many Worlder / Devil's Advocate
"I know what no one else knows" - 'Runaway Train', Soul Asylum
         My URL: http://hammer.prohosting.com/~mathmind/

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Received on Sat Apr 29 2000 - 12:40:40 PDT

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