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

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Jan 22, 2008 5:02 AM, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

> So let's rehearse the river analogy again. When the Mississippi
> "splits" at the delta, is a given small branch "created"?  Or should
> we say that the water-stream that constitutes it already previously
> existed (upstream) but merely became distinguished?  While the
> words may not suit us well, I believe the idea to be internally
> consistent, and even easily visualizable.

### I have been pondering the issue of "branching" (overall measure of
trajectories stays the same at all points along a dimension) vs.
"splitting" (overall measure increases along a dimension), and I tend
to favor the splitting interpretation. If every quantum event has an
infinity of outcomes, all of which exist in the Platonic plenum, then
one can choose a dimension along which the cardinality of the number
of states increases continuously (and we are talking here about an
infinite-dimensional object). More likely than not I am off by a few
infinities here or there, since my grasp of mathematics beyond
arithmetics is rather shaky. Still, I would contend that the measure
of worlds increases with time, and not only that - the measure
increases by an infinity at every quantum event.

Alternatively, it could turn out that conscious existence is defined
in (requires only) finite sets. Quantum events would have only a
finite, if large, number of outcomes. Then, progression through time
would have a simple measure, a combinatorial explosion of states,
again more of a "splitting" phenomenon.

Rafal