Or do we only count a “world” when we have (some minimal degree of) decoherence leading to permanent separation? That way worlds never merge.
This makes me wonder something. It seems that the many-worlds theory involves exponential branching: if there’s 1 world one moment, there are 2 the next, then 4, then 8, and so on. (To attempt to avoid the objection you just raised: if 1 pure state, defined intuitively, has significant amplitude one moment, then . . .) Since this grows exponentially, won’t it eventually grow to cover every possible state? Admittedly, the time this would take is more or less proportional to the number of particles in the universe, and so I really don’t know how long it would take for coinciding to happen, but it seems that this would produce observable consequences eventually, maybe-maybe-not while minds are still around.
Since this grows exponentially, won’t it eventually grow to cover every possible state?
Yes. The process is observable as entropy. And the extremum (equalization of most or all of configuration space) is the conjectured heat-death of the universe.
I agree that equalization of configuration space is the heat death of the universe. I’m not sure, given this, that there won’t be significant interaction until most of the decay has occurred.
This makes me wonder something. It seems that the many-worlds theory involves exponential branching: if there’s 1 world one moment, there are 2 the next, then 4, then 8, and so on. (To attempt to avoid the objection you just raised: if 1 pure state, defined intuitively, has significant amplitude one moment, then . . .) Since this grows exponentially, won’t it eventually grow to cover every possible state? Admittedly, the time this would take is more or less proportional to the number of particles in the universe, and so I really don’t know how long it would take for coinciding to happen, but it seems that this would produce observable consequences eventually, maybe-maybe-not while minds are still around.
Yes. The process is observable as entropy. And the extremum (equalization of most or all of configuration space) is the conjectured heat-death of the universe.
I agree that equalization of configuration space is the heat death of the universe. I’m not sure, given this, that there won’t be significant interaction until most of the decay has occurred.