One thing about the MWI which confused me at first -
The MWI is not a single interpretation, contrary to the name. There are several different versions of MWI floating around.
I believe the original interpretation had the many worlds existing, but generally independent from one another; a single world represents multiple possible states, but as soon as a state is determined (whatever you want to call this process), the world becomes independent, and ceases to interact with the possible states which weren’t realized in that world. (Although different books will tell you different things, this is, as far as I’ve been able to divine, the original one.) In the original version, worlds split, permanently, from one another. So there would be no way to communicate with them. I believe this is the version Yudkowsky follows.
I’ve seen references to arguments that the fifth-dimensional variant (where worlds coexist and overlap, implying that some communication is possible) is impossible, but I’ve never seen the arguments themselves, in spite of looking.
One thing about the MWI which confused me at first -
The MWI is not a single interpretation, contrary to the name. There are several different versions of MWI floating around.
I believe the original interpretation had the many worlds existing, but generally independent from one another; a single world represents multiple possible states, but as soon as a state is determined (whatever you want to call this process), the world becomes independent, and ceases to interact with the possible states which weren’t realized in that world. (Although different books will tell you different things, this is, as far as I’ve been able to divine, the original one.) In the original version, worlds split, permanently, from one another. So there would be no way to communicate with them. I believe this is the version Yudkowsky follows.
I’ve seen references to arguments that the fifth-dimensional variant (where worlds coexist and overlap, implying that some communication is possible) is impossible, but I’ve never seen the arguments themselves, in spite of looking.