5 ms·

I really hope this isn't true. I can't begin to imagine the horrors we'd have to accept as part of reality as a consequence.

vorg 16y ago
What horrors? Our sun is already one of 100 billion in the Milky Way, and our galaxy one of (is it?) 1 trillion in the 13-billion-year-old observable Universe. It's only a small step to accept our observable Universe is only one of 10 trillion bubbles in the Multiverse.
- me2i81 16y ago
  Well there's that stupid beard that Spock wears, for one.
- Tycho 16y ago
  am I the only one always quite surprised that the universe is 'only' 13 billion years old?
  - kaffeinecoma 16y ago
    That always struck me as odd too, since the Earth itself is ~4.5 billion years old. It just seems odd that our little planet has been around (in some fashion) for a significant portion of the lifetime of the universe.
    - Zaak 16y ago
      In addition to that, our solar system probably formed from the remains of one or more second-generation stars, so our planet has already been around longer than at least one of its "ancestors".
  - yters 16y ago
    I believe Hindu cosmologies put our universe's lifespan on the order of trillions of years.
- orblivion 16y ago
  The fact that the apparent randomness seen in quantum mechanics is actually our traveling down one of many possibilities, each of which manifest of their own right. Which means that, if I reach success in my life, thinking back to the hopeful sorry self in my past, I can no longer say, "to think, that sorry guy became the success he is today". That sorry guy also died of cancer, fell off a cliff, died alone, became a heroin addict, and won the lottery. It means that if we as a race ever successfully end poverty or oppression, there will be infinite other amount of scenarios where it never happened and probably got worse. I could imagine all sorts of horrible possibilities but I won't. I'm just going off of what other people seem to conclude from this theory. I admit it seems a bit juvenile that every conceivable thing is possible. ("Everything you can think of is true" - Tom Waits) There's probably a lot of physical limitations. But I still worry what sorts of horrible scenarios it may allow for. But, I dunno, maybe not all multiple universe theories are the same.
  - Qz 16y ago
    I have a wild and semi-unprovable theory that whenever you feel fear in a life-threatening situation, you are in fact feeling the simultaneous multiple-universe death of your other selves who don't survive the life-threatening situation -- sort of the way identical twins report that they can sense each other's feelings, or know when the other is in danger. It's probably total BS, but it's fun to think about.
  - yters 16y ago
    I think it's cool too, since every possibility has a non-zero probability of occurring, so I can attempt absolutely anything I want, no matter how crazy, and somewhere I will have succeeded. I don't even have to put in any effort. Of course, if the set of possibly horrible things is much larger than that of possibly great things, then yes reality sucks. Given that there are always many more ways things can go wrong than right, I guess reality sucks. So, the end result is I don't even have to do anything and my dreams come true, but that doesn't matter because so do my nightmares, and there are more of them.
    - pbhjpbhj 16y ago
- scottmp10 16y ago
  It's turtles all the way down...
Eliezer 16y ago
We've already got theories which say that the universe is spatially infinite and quantumly branching. One more level of infinity on top of that isn't going to make much of a difference. I suggest you regard all events not part of your decision-theoretic future (those you have no influence over) as part of the generalized past, and ignore them.
mynameishere 16y ago
One day your kidneys will shut down and poison you. If you can deal with that (or similar) you can deal with the "horrors" of multiple universes.
- thailandstartup 16y ago
  With multiple universes, where every possibility is explored, there will always be one where you don't die. Your consciousness might be navigating you into that universe. So even when you're 104 and have only 50% of making it to your next birthday . . somehow you will. Everlasting life, that would be a true horror.

vorg 16y ago

What horrors? Our sun is already one of 100 billion in the Milky Way, and our galaxy one of (is it?) 1 trillion in the 13-billion-year-old observable Universe. It's only a small step to accept our observable Universe is only one of 10 trillion bubbles in the Multiverse.

me2i81 16y ago
Well there's that stupid beard that Spock wears, for one.
Tycho 16y ago
am I the only one always quite surprised that the universe is 'only' 13 billion years old?
- kaffeinecoma 16y ago
  That always struck me as odd too, since the Earth itself is ~4.5 billion years old. It just seems odd that our little planet has been around (in some fashion) for a significant portion of the lifetime of the universe.
  - Zaak 16y ago
    In addition to that, our solar system probably formed from the remains of one or more second-generation stars, so our planet has already been around longer than at least one of its "ancestors".
- yters 16y ago
  I believe Hindu cosmologies put our universe's lifespan on the order of trillions of years.
orblivion 16y ago
The fact that the apparent randomness seen in quantum mechanics is actually our traveling down one of many possibilities, each of which manifest of their own right. Which means that, if I reach success in my life, thinking back to the hopeful sorry self in my past, I can no longer say, "to think, that sorry guy became the success he is today". That sorry guy also died of cancer, fell off a cliff, died alone, became a heroin addict, and won the lottery. It means that if we as a race ever successfully end poverty or oppression, there will be infinite other amount of scenarios where it never happened and probably got worse. I could imagine all sorts of horrible possibilities but I won't. I'm just going off of what other people seem to conclude from this theory. I admit it seems a bit juvenile that every conceivable thing is possible. ("Everything you can think of is true" - Tom Waits) There's probably a lot of physical limitations. But I still worry what sorts of horrible scenarios it may allow for. But, I dunno, maybe not all multiple universe theories are the same.
- Qz 16y ago
  I have a wild and semi-unprovable theory that whenever you feel fear in a life-threatening situation, you are in fact feeling the simultaneous multiple-universe death of your other selves who don't survive the life-threatening situation -- sort of the way identical twins report that they can sense each other's feelings, or know when the other is in danger. It's probably total BS, but it's fun to think about.
- yters 16y ago
  I think it's cool too, since every possibility has a non-zero probability of occurring, so I can attempt absolutely anything I want, no matter how crazy, and somewhere I will have succeeded. I don't even have to put in any effort. Of course, if the set of possibly horrible things is much larger than that of possibly great things, then yes reality sucks. Given that there are always many more ways things can go wrong than right, I guess reality sucks. So, the end result is I don't even have to do anything and my dreams come true, but that doesn't matter because so do my nightmares, and there are more of them.
  - pbhjpbhj 16y ago
scottmp10 16y ago
It's turtles all the way down...

Eliezer 16y ago

We've already got theories which say that the universe is spatially infinite and quantumly branching. One more level of infinity on top of that isn't going to make much of a difference. I suggest you regard all events not part of your decision-theoretic future (those you have no influence over) as part of the generalized past, and ignore them.

mynameishere 16y ago

One day your kidneys will shut down and poison you. If you can deal with that (or similar) you can deal with the "horrors" of multiple universes.

thailandstartup 16y ago
With multiple universes, where every possibility is explored, there will always be one where you don't die. Your consciousness might be navigating you into that universe. So even when you're 104 and have only 50% of making it to your next birthday . . somehow you will. Everlasting life, that would be a true horror.