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

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 14/01/2008, John K Clark <jonkc at att.net> wrote:

> I spin why filter at random and it settles at 79 degrees, if my photon makes
> it through my filter and you set your filter at 79 degrees there is a 100%
> chance your photon 2 billion light years away will make it through your
> filter too. If my photon is stopped by my filter there is zero chance your
> photon will make it through your filter set at 79. Either way it's clear
> that the number 79 is of special significance to both photons,
> but I picked that number at random just before the photon hit the filter.

If MWI is true, there is no true randomness in the universe, only
locally apparent randomness. You thought you were choosing 79 degrees
on a whim, but in fact you just happened to be the version of you that
had to choose that value. The photon didn't need to know what you were
going to choose ahead of time nor did it need to communicate what you
did instantaneously to its brother after you had done it. Instead,
after you compare notes with your friend many light years away, you
find that his photon's behaviour correlates with your photon's
behaviour because you are in the same world.

In other words, although it is impossible rig the experiment so that
the correlations occur if you have two free agents at either end who
decide what to measure, it is possible to rig the experiment if you
can duplicate the whole setup, so that every possible choice the
agents might make actually occurs and is appropriately correlated. The
important part here is that the agents from their point of view are
free because they can only experience one world at a time and they
don't know which one it's going to be. From the inside, it's
impossible to tell if there is one world with FTL communication or
backward causation happening, or if there are multiple worlds that
just make it look that way.





-- 
Stathis Papaioannou