On 2/22/2025 4:49 PM, Quentin Anciaux wrote:
Le dim. 23 févr. 2025, 01:39, Brent Meeker <meekerbr...@gmail.com> a
écrit :
On 2/22/2025 3:09 PM, Quentin Anciaux wrote:
Bruce,
Your argument assumes that because the Born rule is not yet fully
derived from unitary evolution, MWI must be incorrect.
No, but it's only correct if you add the Born rule to it. But
that sort of makes MWI, "Just the Schroedinger equation" wrong.
If it can't explain the Born rule then postulating that every
result happens just introduces an extra complication. With the
Born rule we can just say one result obtains, as predicted by the
Born probability.
Brent
Brent,
Saying MWI is "only correct if you add the Born rule" is just another
way of saying that quantum mechanics, in any interpretation, must
account for why we observe Born-rule probabilities. That is not unique
to MWI—every interpretation either assumes or derives it.
That's what I said. But you seem to think that the addition of the Born
rule is unnecessary. You think it can be derived.
If you take the Born rule as a fundamental postulate, then yes, you
can just say "one result obtains" without further justification. But
that’s an assumption, not an explanation.
And what would the explanation be. What is the derivation of the Born
rule without assuming it or something equivalent?
The challenge is understanding why quantum probabilities follow this
specific rule rather than any other distribution.
I don't know why /understanding/ it is a challenge. It's empirically
verified. People understood that the sky is blue long before the atomic
theory of matter.
MWI does not introduce an extra complication—it raises the question of
whether the Born rule follows from unitary evolution rather than being
an additional postulate.
And the answer is "No."
If the Born rule cannot be derived from unitary evolution, that would
be a major issue for MWI.
Exactly so. I makes MWI otiose.
But that is not the same as saying it has been proven impossible.
Simply assuming one result obtains because the Born rule says so does
not address the deeper question of why it holds in the first place.
It's impossible because as Bruce has pointed out MWI has no mechanism
for producing uneven probabilities between two possibilities.
That said, I personally think the real answer to these questions will
not be found in MWI or any specific quantum interpretation, but in a
computational theory of consciousness.
Then you're welcome to publish such an answer. But remember that the
probabilities of quantum experiments are recorded in instruments that
are far to simple to be conscious.
Brent
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