On Wed, Nov 02, 2005 at 09:03:21PM -0800, "Hal Finney" wrote:
>
> I don't think most of our versions of multiverse theories depend on the
> assumption that present-day physics is close to being right. It's true
> that we have some efforts such as those of Russell Standish to derive QM
> from a multiverse model, but (no offense to Russell) I don't think most
> of us have found those very convincing. If it should turn out that QM
> is not right, is only an approximation to a deeper theory, I don't think
> that would be seen as invalidating any of our models.
Lack of convincing is perhaps due to lack of understanding. Even I do
not fully understand the true worth of my "derivation". It seems to me
that I show that any physical theory that takes into account
observation must have that Hilbert space structure, with that form of
the Born rule. Yet there may well be special conditions that nobody
has yet spotted that limit the claims. OTH, it cannot produce
something like the classic Schroedinger equation for the hydrogen
atom, which as we know must be strictly false as it ignores
relativistic effects.
I do not know how profound my result is - perhaps it is a trifle, but
it seems interesting. AFAIK, none of the proposed quantum gravity
theories like string theory, or quantum loops contradict the results I
get, but it remains a testable prediction that if some form of physics
is found that transcends and contradicts what we presently know of as
QM, then some aspect my theory will need to be thrown out. Which of
the big ideas would you choose to reject: Multiverse, Algorithmic
information, Anthropic selection or Darwinian evolution? Hmm let us
see...
--
*PS: A number of people ask me about the attachment to my email, which
is of type "application/pgp-signature". Don't worry, it is not a
virus. It is an electronic signature, that may be used to verify this
email came from me if you have PGP or GPG installed. Otherwise, you
may safely ignore this attachment.
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A/Prof Russell Standish Phone 8308 3119 (mobile)
Mathematics 0425 253119 (")
UNSW SYDNEY 2052 R.Standish.domain.name.hidden
Australia http://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks
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Received on Thu Nov 03 2005 - 06:20:10 PST