the quantum immortality paradox. so, a bloke (probably a scientist, lets give him some credit) gets himself a machine gun wired to a quantum particle. although the gun fires at the rate of a standard machine gun, each bullet will only fire if the particle is spinning counter-clockwise, and will simply be ejected from the gun if it is spinning clockwise, therefore, there is EXACTLY a 50/50 chance of each bullet firing. if the gun fires 10 bullets a second and he holds the trigger for 100 seconds, he could reasonably assume that 500 of those 1000 bullets spray his physicist brains all over the linoleum floor. except, he does just that, and hears only 100 seconds worth of dull clicks. each quantum event, under the "many worlds" theory, creates two possible parallel universes, one in which yon gentleman survives, and one in which he dies. given that it is impossible to perceive ones own death, his consciousness only continues in the univers in which he survives, therefore, his colleagues, in the "original" world (and 999 others), are probably picking his skull fragments from their labcoats, but he can only inhabit the one in which the ones who aren't too stunned to speak are loudly congratulating him, and opening bottles of champagne. he could repeat the experiment indefinitely, and perceive the same result. (athough he'd probably be a little weirded out at the thought of millions of people mourning him in alternate universes) this would be called "quantum suicide" (just a thought experiment, btw) quantum immortality, on the other hand, comes from people imagining that, if we cannot percieve our own deaths, and there are an infinite number of infinitely branching parallel worlds, then every situation possible creates universes in which every single outcome of that situation happens, therefore, no matter what deadly thing happens to you, you survive it, somewhere, an potentially, you will only perceive the universe in which you survive it. Therefore, you will live literally forever, just keep on going. this isn't such a problem for people living at the moment, of course. we only have to live for a very long (but still potentially do-able) time before either longevity escape velocity is achieved, or some manner of continuing our consciousness' in machines or dispersing it over a large group or something is possible. ( i know these things are fucking sci-fi at the moment, but remember, we are living forever if this paradox is correct, so theres a lot of time to play with here) but what about someone born, say, in the middle ages? there must be a universe where a peasant from the 1400's is still alive and kicking, withered like a leathery prune, while kids with ipods puzzle over his dilapidated body. any way, that whole thing fucks with my mind. (apologies if i've offended any quantum physicists by completely misrepresenting quantum suicide, but this was basically how it was explained to me) that's all
I'm not sure I believe the many worlds interpretation. It is very bizarre, which doesn't bother me, but it's no more bizarre than the simple reality of quantum physics which is that the world is an uncertain world. It seems like an odd exception where we don't accept the worldview for what it's been shown to be. In this rare instance, it seems more favorable to believe in fantasies for why it's this way than to live in the now of it being this way.
It doesn't blow my mind because I know it's bullshit. Multiple universe, parallel, mirror dimensions are absolute fictional bullshit. 11 dimension string theory is absolute bullshit. 4th dimension as time is bullshit. Time is not a dimensional shift. Universes do not exist as frozen static copies of every possible outcome.
Parallel dimensions exist for me in this way: At any nodal point in my existence I am able to make different decisions in that moment as to what course of action to take.A very simple example would be a dietary consideration - If I choose to eat beef burgers and chips for twenty years I will be get fat and unhealthy.If I choose a diet consisting lagely of brown rice and mixed beans I will be likely to be healthier.Each course of action leads to two parallel outcomes,based on my decision making process.When one considers the very large amount of decisions we have to make in a lifetime,we can see that multiple parallel worlds exist for us contingent on our choices.But choices do not only affect ourselves - they also affect the lives of others and the wider World around us.Taking into consideration the billions of beings living on Earth at this very moment in time,we can see that we all exist in a web of competing and sometimes harmonizing parallel Worlds,all coming into existence simultaneously,right here, right now.
What blows my mind is that we are all part of a one mind , a mass human colective consciousness . The mind of some own stupid enough to wire up a machine gun to fire based on a random event . At least Schrodenger used his cat ( not a real cat , just in his mind ) desert rat
One can IMAGINE and fantasize about a fantasy world where a different outcome occurred, it doesn't mean such a world actually exists anywhere. Somewhere along the road scientific THEORY is getting confused with perceptions of reality. If you don't know the state of Schrondinger's cat, there is not an actual universe where the cat is dead and another parallel universe where it is alive. There is just one universe where the cat's state is unknown and scientific methods must acknowledge all POSSIBLE outcomes. It's sort of like the cat is both dead and alive in THEORY but this is not reality. THEORY IS NOT REALITY.
human bodies decay and die, so no? unless there was a percent chance a human body has a shelf life of infinite, and that's not possible so no? unless i'm missing something here. I wanna board the mindfuck train too but I don't have the imagination of a child.
I think we propagate probable selves and sometimes we relate to these selves and advance their interests in particular states of consciousness.
the contention is that it is impossible for a conscious being to perceive their own death, that you can only ever inhabit a world in which you are alive. yes, this flies in the face of what we know about ageing and decay and decomposition etc, that's the paradox element, two apparently fundamental laws colliding with each other- inability to percieve one's own death vs. human mortality. the mind fuck comes from a a thought experiment (like quantum suicide) if we imagine both these laws as immutable, how do we reconcile them to each other? given that this is under an infinite worlds conception of the universe, anything, no matter how improbable, goes.
yet by this logic, we could have stopped scientific progress at any time of human history. as soon as big water fell from sky we could have could have stopped wondering about it and "lived in the now", but we didn't, we strove to understand the universe even (in fact, especially) when it seems mysterious. otherwise its just sort of giving up.
One, perception is not knowledge but can lead to it. Two, life is redundant, that is rising like a wave. redundant- , present participle of redundare "overflow" < undare "rise in waves" < unda "wave". There is no opposing will. Growth and decay both are particulate expressions of the wave form of life. Respiration. We breath in, we breath out, and we sometimes suspend or increase the duration between those motions. We are familiar with going in and going out of consciousness.
Well, the extra dimensions are used to describe how all the subatomic particles pop in and out and loop around each other in the tiniest amount of time. Multiverse theory the way its presented in such arguments is just from science fiction, one action happens and everything spilts off in a linear fashion. Watching something in the rear view mirror of your car whilst the car is moving, thus vibrating is a better analogy, that shuddering effect. Tiniest parts of you can split off into other dimensions for the tiniest amount of time, but not as a whole. In the OPs analogy, the machine gun would fire at anywhere near the speed the quantum particle is changing spin, it starts off on a false premise. And even if you could, would require all particles to shift in the same direction, which we already know doesnt happen and they effect each other. For me, the real mind fuck is that time doesnt exist anyway. The speed of light is a constant and a measure of distance not time. Which is where these types of scenarios including Shrodingers cat break down. Slow down a neutrino so something that works at photon speed can see it, then its not a neutrino anymore anyway. Does something exist at a set point in time, when time=0, even though you are not talking about time, you are talking about momentum
That is exactly why time DOES exist. If time = 0 then energy/movement = 0 and there would nothing because matter is concentrated energy/time. That is all anything is, movement AKA Energy AKA time, all the same thing, propagations of spatial vibrations. Movements, time is a necessarily intrinsic component of movement/energy. Time is the progress of movement.
I am very interested in the arrow of time. It's hard for me to juggle all these concepts, but from what I understand, time is within the mind, relative to the observer. If it can be that abstract, what are its limits? Life and death could be harmonious if we are structure beyond our experience of time. The past exists forever, but at all points. And we aren't just "the past" at the certain points we can recall, but we're the form that exists over the span of our lives. If this form always exists in a different framework of time, then it can always be harmonious with the other forms that exist, such as your deceased parents, friends, etc. It just seems like the one exception to me, quantum physics. It has shown us this world that can't be so. Whereas people are still allowed to perceive Classical Physics' determinism as "fact." People who think this way still seem to be given credence as scientists, whereas if you accept QM as true just at face value, then you're a quack. Because it points to a fantastic universe, I think. Things aren't allowed to be this fantastic. Not that we shouldn't imagine...but what if what we're seeing is actually just the way things are and there are no multiverses?
i have no problem with a many worlds interpretation. it explains many odd things i have seen in real life, and also how completely like being alive in discernably different yet signeficantly similar universes many of my dream experiences have been. i also believe, somewhere in this universe, there is a, call it a copy of my soul, stored in a machine. that the me that was sent to this world, which is me, that when it dies in this life, there will be other copies of my self that will go one living. although i also believe there is some kind of non-physical existence that may be between physical lives for everyone. i do not know how this will affect this me in this life. every belief has its claims. it is possible that what is real is completely different then all of them. i do not know that even what we experience between lives if we do so, will have the answers. only one thing i am sure, that there is more then what anyone thinks they know.
