So it’s more like, in almost half the universes, the coin lands heads, and in the other almost half of the universes, the coin lands tails, but in a tiny fraction of the universes the coin actually lands on its side.
Much like David Allen, I’m not sure this is truly the case. The path of the coin is completely determined, if you knew all starting conditions perfectly you could predict how it would end up with complete accuracy. And the universe knows all starting conditions perfectly.
Quantum fluctuations would tend to cancel each other out (much like all the air molecules in a room are never only in one corner, leaving the rest of the room in a vacuum, even though that’s not strictly impossible), and thus never exert any significant pressure on the coin in any direction, and have no net impact on it’s path. I would think that the coin would land on one particular side in nearly 100% of universes, with maybe the tiniest fraction containing a truly extraordinary confluence of random fluctuations all in the same direction that made it land on the other side.
I’m almost sure that it’s not actually the case. I only use the example of a coin flipping because most people consider that random and it’s easier than having to explain Schrodinger’s Cat.
Isn’t that an argument against quantum immortality though? As the event that kills you in any given universe is not going to be a random quantum event, but a hard-to-affect deterministic event that kills you in (nearly?) 100% of universes.
I think it is important to clarify the meaning of “chance”, as you
refer to it.
If I say that the behavior of a flipped coin is almost certainly
deterministic, the remaining uncertainty is not part of the system, it
is caused by my inability to predict the outcome. This is not the kind
of “chance” that you are referring to.
The type of “chance” related to quantum immortality is the probability
attached to non-zero quantum wave-function amplitudes.
It is not enough for there to be a conceptual “chance” that quantum
wave-functions could influence the outcome of a coin toss. There must
be actual reachable sequences of quantum state sets, all with
non-zero wave-function amplitudes, that result in alternate outcomes.
It may also not be enough to utilize a hypothetical model of the quantum
wave-functions. It may be possible that real low probability
wave-functions don’t result in universe splits. For example, those
world-lines might merge with higher probability world lines, or there
might be resolution limits set by the holographic universe, or by
quantum foam noise.
With these restriction and granting (just for this argument) that the
MWI is the right way to think about the universe, I’ll agree with your
statment:
“even the most infinitesimal chances are guaranteed to come up somewhere.”
Much like David Allen, I’m not sure this is truly the case. The path of the coin is completely determined, if you knew all starting conditions perfectly you could predict how it would end up with complete accuracy. And the universe knows all starting conditions perfectly.
Quantum fluctuations would tend to cancel each other out (much like all the air molecules in a room are never only in one corner, leaving the rest of the room in a vacuum, even though that’s not strictly impossible), and thus never exert any significant pressure on the coin in any direction, and have no net impact on it’s path. I would think that the coin would land on one particular side in nearly 100% of universes, with maybe the tiniest fraction containing a truly extraordinary confluence of random fluctuations all in the same direction that made it land on the other side.
I’m almost sure that it’s not actually the case. I only use the example of a coin flipping because most people consider that random and it’s easier than having to explain Schrodinger’s Cat.
Isn’t that an argument against quantum immortality though? As the event that kills you in any given universe is not going to be a random quantum event, but a hard-to-affect deterministic event that kills you in (nearly?) 100% of universes.
It shouldn’t matter, since even the most infinitesimal chances are guaranteed to come up somewhere.
I think it is important to clarify the meaning of “chance”, as you refer to it.
If I say that the behavior of a flipped coin is almost certainly deterministic, the remaining uncertainty is not part of the system, it is caused by my inability to predict the outcome. This is not the kind of “chance” that you are referring to.
The type of “chance” related to quantum immortality is the probability attached to non-zero quantum wave-function amplitudes.
It is not enough for there to be a conceptual “chance” that quantum wave-functions could influence the outcome of a coin toss. There must be actual reachable sequences of quantum state sets, all with non-zero wave-function amplitudes, that result in alternate outcomes.
It may also not be enough to utilize a hypothetical model of the quantum wave-functions. It may be possible that real low probability wave-functions don’t result in universe splits. For example, those world-lines might merge with higher probability world lines, or there might be resolution limits set by the holographic universe, or by quantum foam noise.
With these restriction and granting (just for this argument) that the MWI is the right way to think about the universe, I’ll agree with your statment:
I understand this, but thanks for the clarification regardless.