Re:Physicists Observe ‘Unobservable’ Quantum Phase Transition
by bowsamic on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @09:08AM
(#37480589)
It still posits that we are in one of (probably) infinite universes corresponding to each possible outcome (unless you are getting confused with the "Consistent histories" interpretation). That is a part of the fundamental mechanism of the Everett interpretation, it's literally why it's called the Many World Interpretation. Just because you can make a physical analogy for that branching doesn't mean it isn't an extra element in your ontology
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Re:Physicists Observe ‘Unobservable’ Quantum Phase Transition
by ithkuil on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @09:50AM
(#37481249)
yeah, I'd argue though that it's not adding those universes. They're there all along. Branching is an epiphenomenon of there being information processing machines that are embedded in the real universe, and those machines interpret their interactions with the surrounding as if they were only part of a subset of that universe, and upon reasoning about that they call the real universe the "multi-verse"
Re:Physicists Observe ‘Unobservable’ Quantum Phase Transition
by bowsamic on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @09:55AM
(#37481328)
Okay but once again that is an extra postulate that is not really much less crazy than postulating the Born rule
Re:Physicists Observe ‘Unobservable’ Quantum Phase Transition
by ithkuil on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @12:04PM
(#37483345)
well, whether the postulate is crazy or not is a matter of perspective.
Postulating that nature just does the Born rule is postulating an additional thing that nature does.
Postulating that hey perhaps we ain't that special and perhaps we should just think through the consequences of our own brains being embedded in the very nature we're trying to describe.
On one hand, it feels like we're adding a lot by buying into the Everrettian model, because it does require us to think and throw away some intuition about ourselves. But OTOH, it actually requires adding much much less to what nature actually does.
Re:Physicists Observe ‘Unobservable’ Quantum Phase Transition
by kgwgk on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @12:18PM
(#37483575)
We have to assume that nature “does” those consequences of our own brains being embedded in the very nature we're trying to describe though. Even if we can’t even articulate precisely what they are the assumption is not so mild.