Saibal Mitra wrote: > How would an observer know he is living in a universe in which information > is lost? Information loss means that time evolution can map two different > initial states to the same final state. The observer in the final state > thus > cannot know that information really has been lost.
If the universe allows two different states to evolve into the same final state, the second law of thermodynamics wouldn't hold, and we would be able to (in principle) contruct perpetual motion machines. I don't know why you say this can't be detected by an observer. In theory all we have to do is prepare two systems in two different states, and then observe that they have evolved into the same final state. Of course in practice the problem is "which two different states?" And as I suggest earlier, it may be that for anthropic reasons one or both of these states is very difficult to access. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
