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

Jef Allbright jef at jefallbright.net
Mon Jan 14 19:02:11 UTC 2008


On Jan 14, 2008 10:47 AM, Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> At 06:06 PM 1/14/2008 +0100, Serafino wrote:
>
> >If you read point Q8 (When does Schroedinger's
> >cat split?), of this MWI faq here
> >http://www.hedweb.com/manworld.htm ,
> >it seems that you have two 'worlds'
> >inside the *sealed* box (cat alive, cat
> >dead), but the 'world' outside the box
> >is still one, since the (eventual)
> >onlooker is (eventually) split into
> >two copies *only* when the box is opened
> >and they are altered by the states of the cat.
>
> It might be worth considering that "worlds" split *at the instant
> when the unpredictable/uncaused quantum decay occurs* (which triggers
> release of the cyanide), so there are many worlds with a cat that
> died at different clock ticks, but the human "observer" can't
> distinguish them when she opens the box at the agreed mean time of
> electron emission (or whatever) that yields a theoretical p of 0.5.
> Well, maybe there's a detector inside the box that registered instant
> of cyanide release. Each splitting carried a version of the human
> observer with it, surely.

Ouch!  That hurt on so many levels!

- Jef



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