[ExI] Many Worlds (was: A Simulation Argument)

[John K Clark]

"Damien Broderick" <thespike at satx.rr.com> Wrote:

> A basic premise of quantum theory, as I understand it (in a rudimentary
> way), is that what we see always comprises a superposition of all
> possible states of the relevant phenomenon.

But we don't ALWAYS see a superposition of states. If you flip a coin and it
comes out heads then you are NOT living in the world where it came out
tails. In the same way if you do the two slit experiment and the photon
goes through slit A then you are not living in the world where it went
through slot B, but the 2 slit experiment can be a little difference from
the simple coin toss example.

If after the photon makes its decision on which of the 2 slits to go through
it then hits a photographic plate (or a brick wall) then both photons in
both universes are destroyed and thus there is no longer any difference
between the two, so the universes will merge back together. THEN you will
see a superposition of states. Then you will see indications that you live
in a universe where the photon went through slot A only and indications
you live in a universe where the photon went through slot B only,
and that is why you see an interference effect even if you only send one
photon at a time at the slits.

If you got rid of the film (or the brick wall) and let the photon head out
into infinite space after it passed the slits then the universes, and you,
will split and never recombine, and so of course you will see no
interference effect. The beautiful part of the theory is that it doesn't
have to explain what an observer is and that's why a brick wall will
work just as well as a photographic plate.

  John K Clark