Multiverse Theory : The most strange consequences of the multi-world interpretation

mike11 (60)in #steemstem • 7 years ago (edited)

According to the multi-world interpretation of quantum physics, we live in an endless network of alternative universes. This is a serious statement that carries certain and extremely serious scientific, philosophical and existential consequences. Let's look at ten of them.

According to the hypothesis of the creator of the multi-world interpretation of quantum mechanics by Hugh Everett, we live in the Universe, more precisely in the multiverse, in which a lot of successive worlds are constantly born and branched, in each of which there is another version of you.

Quantum physicists have used a multi-world interpretation to eliminate the unpleasant drawback of the Copenhagen interpretation, namely the statement that an unobservable phenomenon can exist in two states. That is, instead of asserting that the cat Schrödinger is both alive and dead, the world's many interpretations state that the cat simply "branched out" in different worlds: in one it is alive, in the other it is dead.

60 years after its presentation, the world-wide interpretation remains a rather controversial issue. In a 2013 poll conducted among quantum physicists, only a fifth said that they welcomed the multi-world interpretation (for comparison, 42% of physicists adhere to the Copenhagen interpretation). Nevertheless among the supporters of the multiverse there are very eminent scientists from the field of quantum physics - David Deutsch, Scott Aaronson, Sean Carroll.

Regardless of the state of the theory, it is extremely interesting to reflect on its consequences.

We live in a multiverse of giant sizes

Cosmologists accept the fact that the world we observe is one, as self-evident. Reflections on the multiple universe have long been considered a scientific heresy, but the likelihood that this is true grows more and more. Physicists and metaphysicians, cosmologists, anthropologists, quantum fanatics - everyone starts to think about it.

The main statement of the multi-world interpretation is that everything consists of a quantum superposition of an unimaginably large - or infinite - number of universes. If this interpretation is correct, there must be an absolutely astounding number of alternative worlds.

The integrity of your life is illusion

MMI also violates our notion of personality. We all perceive our life as a single and integral journey through space and time. In fact, we are an exponentially growing set of events that branch from moment to moment. As a result, we must think of ourselves not as individuals, but as fractional parts.

The reason for this illusion is that it is impossible to survive multiple experiences, so we stay with the realization that we are one person. But this does not mean that our experience of reality is genuine or real. We must acknowledge - through MMI - that our lives are not exactly what they seem.

There are many versions of you

If MMI is correct, there is an almost infinite (or infinite) number of your versions, each of which perceives the world as a separate person and does not know about the existence of other versions. Consequently, the very volume of alternative life paths is extremely large. Since your birth, you - or what you think you have - branched out in different worlds. The complete set of you is a massive root system that expands exponentially, and each root represents a new life.

Since MMI implies constant variability, dependence on probabilities, each new instance of you should be different, observing the world in which an alternative outcome of the events of your life occurred. Therefore, there are worlds in which you still live with the former, are more or less successful, have already died or experienced the death of loved ones who are alive in the real world. There may even be vicious versions of you, where you are terrorists or murderers. The possibilities are almost limitless, until the foundations of physics are violated.

You still have free will

Given that all possible solutions will be accepted by different versions of you, MMI is quite difficult to explain the issue of free will. If all options have already been made in alternative worlds, then why go through all the trouble, weighing all the pros and cons, making decisions? The collective fate of your alter-ego is already predetermined, the choice is made for you.

MMI expert Michael Clive-Price points out that although all decisions have already been made, some are accepted more often than others. In other words, each branch of the solution has its own "weight", which affects the usual laws of quantum statistics.

In addition, the MMI would mean a certain non-determinism of being, albeit in a non-intuitive way. Whenever we ask ourselves: "Could I make another decision or act differently?", MMI responds that yes, of course. And not only you, but also an alternative version of you, too, could. But why you chose this option, achieved some results, it all comes down to the influence of quantum events on classical objects - including thinking in your head.

Somewhere there may exist extremely strange worlds

MMI necessarily leads to very strange opportunities. Again, all branch points are possible exactly as long as you do not violate the laws of physics. It is important to note, however, that considering the entire volume of all possible worlds, it is more likely that you will find yourself in the most possible and rational of the worlds, since they arise with a high frequency.

But there are also worlds in which extremely strange things are happening. For example, someone throws a coin 1000 times, and at the same time there is a world in which he throws out the grill 1000 times in a row.

There are also worlds in which someone will guess absolutely all the predictions of sports matches. Worlds in which a person without musical education, seeing the piano for the first time, will play the 3rd pianoforte concert of Rachmaninov, as the maestro himself would play. The chances, however, of such an event are negligible and go beyond astronomical probabilities, although, of course, among the infinitely possible variants are.

However, it is this point of skepticism that is singled out as the most acute, minimizing the rationality of MMI.

You are in some way immortal

This mental experiment is called "quantum suicide." Imagine a situation in which a person plays Russian roulette, in which a half-reel of a revolver is laid with bullets. In such a superposition, every turn of the drum will throw off the chances of a man's suicide to 50/50. But MMI tells us that there must be a world in which a person will never shoot himself even after 50 turns of the drum. Although the chances that this will happen, tend to zero, but somewhere this should happen.

Curiously, the physicist Max Tegmark says that this experiment can serve as proof of MMI, only it will require the death of many people before one lucky person gets to the finish.

Another view of quantum immortality asserts that the version of ourselves must always exist to observe the universe. Paul Halpern, the author of "the cat of Schrodinger," expressed it this way:

"What is human survival? We are all a set of particles, established by quantum rules at the deepest level. If each time a quantum transition occurs, our bodies and minds split, there will be copies that experience every possible result, including one that determines whether we live or die. Suppose that in one case a particular set of quantum transitions leads to an incorrect distribution of cells and causes a deadly form of cancer. For each transition there will always be an alternative that does not lead to cancer. It turns out, there will always be branches with survivors. Let's add to this the assumption that our consciousness will always stay only in live copies, and we will be able to survive in any number of potentially dangerous events related to quantum transitions. "

It may be possible to link parallel worlds

In 1995, the quantum physicist Rainer Plaga suggested experimentally testing the MMI, describing the procedure of "intermilitary" information and energy exchange through "weak connection".

With the help of standard quantum-optical equipment, a single ion can be isolated from the environment in an ion trap. Then you can perform a quantum-mechanical measurement with two separate results on the example of another system, thereby creating two parallel worlds. Depending on the result, the ion will be excited only in one of these parallel worlds, before the decoherence of the ion occurs during the interaction of the surrounding medium. Plagi claims that we could detect this arousal in another parallel world, which would provide the MMI with evidence - and would provide a possible way to send the news to a parallel reality.

No paradoxes of time travel

It's simple: the presence of alternative worlds will mean the absence of a single time scale, over which you can move.

If someone goes back in time, this will mean moving into completely new temporary paradigms. Accordingly, in the MMI paradoxes like a return to the past and the murder of the grandfather simply do not find a place.

Everything has already happened and will happen again

The most interesting consequence of an infinite number of worlds is that everything has already happened. Moreover, there will be an infinite number of times.

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7 years ago in #steemstem by mike11 (60)

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