William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>Presumably the universe existed for quite a while before any form of life
>evolved at all. And a little bit longer before anything with consciousness
>evolved. So it seems likely that it ticks along quite smoothly without
>anything watching.
Or it was one humongous superposition until the first conscious being opened
its eyes and said, "I observe, therefore everything else is." and caused a
wavefunction collapse propagating outwards at the speed of light.
Interesting questions, for anybody who would take the above stance:
- Given that the conscious being had to develop and evolve as a
superposition, does that imply that the potential-universe with the earliest
developed consciousness was the one selected for? If not, what is special
about the statistical branch that finally does deliver conscious observers?
- What happens in such a universe if two conscious species evolve outside of
each others' light cones?
c.f. Greg Egan's "Quarantine".
Joshua
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