The fundamental absurdity of single-history frameworks becomes clear when we consider the reliance on theoretical constructs that, by definition, never exist and never will. How can one justify using mathematical tools that invoke nonexistent possibilities to explain a reality where only one sequence of events is ever realized? If something never existed, has no causal influence, and will never exist in any possible future, how does it play any role in explaining what does exist?
This contradiction is evident in interpretations like Bohmian mechanics, where the pilot wave guides particles but remains completely unobservable and uninteractive beyond that role. It’s an invisible, untouchable entity that affects matter but is never affected in return—something that is functionally indistinguishable from the pure abstractions of probability waves in a single-world interpretation. In both cases, explanations rely on constructs that have no true existence beyond their mathematical form. A single-history universe that leans on unrealized possibilities to justify probability is making an implicit appeal to something that doesn’t and will never exist. It treats the wavefunction as a real tool for calculating outcomes while simultaneously denying that the alternatives it describes have any grounding in reality. This is the absurdity: how can something that never existed be part of an explanation for what does? In contrast, in a many-worlds framework, all possibilities exist and are real branches of the wavefunction, providing an actual basis for probability. The probabilities are not just mathematical conveniences; they describe distributions of real outcomes across real histories. This removes the need for metaphysical hand-waving about non-existent possibilities influencing reality. If physics is about describing reality, then relying on things that are, by construction, eternally non-existent to justify observed phenomena is conceptually incoherent. It is an attempt to have it both ways—to use abstract possibilities when convenient while denying their reality when inconvenient. That contradiction is why single-history frameworks ultimately fail to provide a satisfying foundation for probability and existence itself. Quentin Le mar. 4 févr. 2025, 19:03, John Clark <johnkcl...@gmail.com> a écrit : > > On Tue, Feb 4, 2025 at 12:56 PM 'spudboy...@aol.com' via Everything List < > everything-list@googlegroups.com> wrote: > > *> Bohmian mechanics v Everett-DeWiit-Wheeler? * >> *For Carroll, it probably means they're the same. Indistinguishable. * >> > > *This is what I said about that about a month ago: * > > > *Pilot Wave Theory keeps Schrodinger's Equation but needs to add another > entirely new very complicated equation called the Pilot Wave Equation that > contains non-local variables. When an electron enters the two slit > experiment the Pilot Wave in effect produces a little arrow pointing to one > of the electrons with the caption under it saying "this is the real > electron, ignore all the other ones". The Pilot Wave does absolutely > nothing except erase unwanted universes, it is for this reason that some > have called Pilot Wave theory the Many Worlds theory in denial. * > > *The Pilot Wave is unique in another way, it can affect matter but matter > cannot affect it, if it's real it would be the first time in the history of > physics where an exception to Newton's credo that for every action there is > a reaction; even after the object it is pointing to is destroyed the pilot > wave continues on, although now it is pointing at nothing and has no > further effect on anything in the universe. Also, nobody has ever been able > to make a relativistic version of the Pilot Wave Equation.Paul dirac found > a version of Schrodinger's Equation that was compatible with special > relativity as early as 1927. * > > *John K Clark See what's on my new list at Extropolis > <https://groups.google.com/g/extropolis>* > 8b0 > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv3JL9f40jD-4qG0ry6z38ZtVysrh9RhE%2BDirJrSWzaX-w%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv3JL9f40jD-4qG0ry6z38ZtVysrh9RhE%2BDirJrSWzaX-w%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAMW2kAopDs_qGcSEgaZJdrDUu7qgMzWgvNbE4EPFgw5pxRBQcA%40mail.gmail.com.
