2 ms·
I was never quite clear on the branching in MWI. It seems that we can create additional branches every time we conduct an experiment that performs a quantum mea
by goatlover 4y ago
I was never quite clear on the branching in MWI. It seems that we can create additional branches every time we conduct an experiment that performs a quantum measurement. So there is a universe splitter app that's connected to a lab which gives a 50/50 result. You can use it to make decisions, like flipping a quantum coin, so that you know your double is doing the opposite in another branch.
Now let's say the scenario is you get to drink something that puts you to sleep. There's a 50% chance the drink also contains a poison that will kill you in your sleep, based on the quantum measurement. But if you wake up, you get awarded a million dollars.
The argument goes that you should take the bet, because one version of you always wakes up richer, and you can't tell the difference beforehand. However, a counter argument is that you you would be increasing the suffering in the other world by offing yourself there, so you shouldn't take the bet.
I don't know how to feel about suffering in other branches. If everything happens that can happen, then there's nothing to be done about it. But if we can cause additional branches to come about, then we could be increasing suffering. However, should I care about the branch I don't wake up in?
We could up the stakes by saying either one wakes up richer, or a paperclip maximizer is unleashed. Should I then care if one branch gets clipped?
- layer8 4y agoIn the thought experiment you describe, I think the premise is that there won’t be any suffering for yourself, because the poison will kill you when you’re asleep. (Of course, family and friends may suffer after your death.) Morality in many-worlds is an interesting question. It’s a topic that sometimes come up in Sean Carroll’s Mindscape podcast (for example in [0] IIRC), you may be interested in that. Personally I don’t think it matters in practice, because whether you will do that experiment or not (or maybe rather, in which branches you will do that experiment) is already predetermined by the wave function of the universe. You can’t really change the future by taking this or that decision, because there will always be another branch where you will have made a different decision. The totality of all branches is fixed and predetermined, and they are all real. You do not cause branches to come into existence that otherwise wouldn’t have existed; that’s not how it works. The wave function is fully deterministic. [0] https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/12/12/220-lara-buchak-on-risk-and-rationality/ https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/12/12/220-...