[ExI] Google’s Willow Quantum Chip: Proof of the Multiverse?

[Jason Resch]

On Sat, Nov 8, 2025, 1:10 PM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On Sat, Nov 8, 2025 at 1:04 PM Jason Resch via extropy-chat
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> > How would you describe the difference between "determinism" and
> "superdeterminism?"
> >
> > From all your writings on superdeterminism, you never seem to suggest
> any difference between the two. Do you think they are equivalent?
>
> That depends on your definitions of the term.  I must insist that you
> go first, as my usual experience on this topic is that any explanation
> I give is immediately strawmanned into someone else's definitions, who
> then claims they are "right" when they have actually given
> non-sequiturs.
>

Let's go with what Google's AI gave me when I searched: difference between
determinism and superdeterminism

This is what it provided:

"Determinism states all events are causally inevitable, while
superdeterminism is a stricter version that adds the assumption that the
choices of experimental measurements are also predetermined and correlated
with the system being measured. This means that not only are the outcomes
of experiments fixed, but the very act of setting up the experiment is
coordinated with the outcome, making it impossible to test for randomness
and free will in the conventional sense.

Determinism

Definition: All events, including human decisions, are predetermined by
prior causes and conditions.

Example: A simple physics example is predicting a ball's trajectory based
on its initial position and velocity. A more complex one is that every
event in the universe is the inevitable result of the laws of physics
acting on the initial conditions of the universe.

Key principle: Causes lead to effects in a predictable chain.

Superdeterminism

Definition: A more extreme version of determinism where the choices made by
experimenters (like selecting a measurement setting) are also part of the
predetermined chain of events, correlated with the system being measured.

Example: In a quantum experiment, a superdeterministic universe would
ensure that the choice of measurement setting and the outcome of that
measurement are correlated from the beginning of time. The "randomness" is
an illusion, as the experiment was pre-arranged to produce a specific
result.

Key principle: The assumption of measurement independence, which is central
to how scientists design experiments and interpret results, is violated."


I find these definitions perfectly acceptable and standard.

Do you agree with them?

Under these definitions, do you see a difference between determinism and
superdeterminism?

Under these definitions, do you believe in this version of superdeterminism?


For reference: I believe in determinism, but I reject superdeterminism.
They are (in my view ) not at all the same thing. One makes science
possible, the other makes science impossible.


> I am not accusing you specifically of doing so.  Indeed, I hope that
> you will do better.  I'm just finding it hard to care enough to give a
> good answer on my own given how often it's happened, and if you will
> engage honestly then you deserve the same from me.
>

Certainly, I appreciate that.


> > If so, I think that sits at the root of our inability to effectively
> communicate on this subject.
>
> It might.
>

Let me know if these definitions will help us to break through that past
barrier.

Jason
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