2 ms·
There's a non-zero probability that you'll tunnel through the floor and get buried under dirt - quantum mechanics 101. How do you manage to sleep now?
by Florin_Andrei 7y ago
There's a non-zero probability that you'll tunnel through the floor and get buried under dirt - quantum mechanics 101.
How do you manage to sleep now?
- perl4ever 7y agoI would assume the probability of that is roughly comparable to the probability of a Boltzmann brain[1] assembling, which is roughly one in 10^10^50, or 10 with 10^50 zeros after it. Could be as high as 1 in 10^10^30 based on a discussion of the probability of macroscopic tunneling that I read. Assuming you wrote this number down in decimal form using the most efficient available technology[2], it would require the material in roughly 400,000 galaxies the size of the milky way. Regarding earthquakes, the USGS estimates[3] the probability of a magnitude 7.5 quake near LA is about 30% in the next 30 years. A magnitude 8 is probably 150 times less likely, so the probability might be roughly 1/15,000 to happen this year. The difference between 1/15,000 and 1/10^10^40 is...roughly 10^10^40 times. So if you worry about tunneling through the floor, then a devastating earth quake is essentially as likely as not tunneling through the floor. Really, have a sense of proportion! [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_(atoms) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_(atoms) [3]https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-probability-earthquake-will-occur-los-angeles-area-san-francisco-bay-area https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-probability-earthquake-will-o...