Do we live in a universe in which future coin tosses will invariably result in "heads," or one in which a mixture of results will occur? Of course, we live in both, but the latter constitutes a numerically much larger class of universes; one would imagine it would be the same with physical laws, including those governing "wave-function collapse": That some laws would have a much larger "measure", and would always be the ones we discover. -Chris C ----- Original Message ----- From: Hal Finney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 5:30 PM Subject: Re: "spooky action at a distance"
> This list is dedicated to exploring the implications of the prospect > that all universes exist. According to this principle, universes > exist with all possible laws of physics. It follows that universes > exist which follow the MWI; and universes exist where only one branch > is real and where the other branches are eliminated. Universes exist > where the transactional interpretation is true, and where Penrose's > "objective reduction" happens. I'm tempted to even say that universes > exist where the Copenhagen interpretation is true, but that seems to be > more a refusal to ask questions than a genuine interpretation. > > Therefore it is somewhat pointless to argue about whether we are in one > or another of these universes. In fact, I would claim that we are > in all of these, at least all that are not logically inconsistent or > incompatible with the data. That is, our conscious experience spans > multiple universes; we are instantiated equally and equivalently in > universes which have different laws of physics, but where the differences > are so subtle that they have no effect on our observations. > > It may be that at some future time, we can perform an experiment which > will provide evidence to eliminate or confirm some of these possible QM > interpretations. At that time, our consciousness will differentiate, > and we will go on in each of the separate universes, with separate > consciousness. > > It is still useful to discuss whether the various interpretations work > at all, and whether they are in fact compatible with our experimental > results. But to go beyond that and to try to determine which one is > "true" is, according to the multiverse philosophy, an empty exercise. > All are true; all are instantiated in the multiverse, and we live in > all of them. > > Hal >
