High School How do you build a quantum suicide machine?

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The discussion centers on the concept of a quantum suicide machine, primarily as a thought experiment related to multiverse theory and quantum mechanics. Participants clarify that building such a machine is unnecessary, as the many-worlds interpretation (MWI) suggests there are worlds where one survives and others where one does not, making the concept of quantum immortality misleading. The conversation critiques the idea that consciousness plays a role in these outcomes, emphasizing that survival probabilities apply to all entities, not just conscious beings. The debate also touches on the implications of cosmological constants and the nature of fluctuations in the universe, questioning the validity of achieving immortality through quantum mechanics. Ultimately, the thread highlights the complexities and misconceptions surrounding quantum immortality and MWI.
  • #31
durant35 said:
wouldn't the possibility that you implied kinda be inconsistent with anthtropic reasoning - that we are in this branch because we are likely to be in it

Not at all. Anthropic reasoning says we are in this branch because we, as sentient observers, have to be in a branch that can contain sentient observers. But it says nothing at all about how likely such branches are compared with branches that cannot contain sentient observers; it just says that, of course, we won't find ourselves in one of the latter branches.
 
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  • #32
PeterDonis said:
Not at all. Anthropic reasoning says we are in this branch because we, as sentient observers, have to be in a branch that can contain sentient observers. But it says nothing at all about how likely such branches are compared with branches that cannot contain sentient observers; it just says that, of course, we won't find ourselves in one of the latter branches.

You're right. Maybe this is too much digression for the thread, but I've read numerous arguments about typicality of our universe in a "multiverse". Translated to the MWI language that should mean that a right cosmologicak theory would put us (hypotethically of course) in a typical branch. Though I agree with your premise, it seems that this should be prioritized.
 

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