- #1
Mr. Tambourine Man
- 15
- 0
I hope no one has posted this question before as it seems to be a pretty obvious question.
Let's take a hypothetical element which has an 85% chance of emitting an alpha particle in one hour. Now, unless I'm wrong, I believe that Everett's many-worlds interpretation says that a measurement splits the universe into precisely two branches. But to keep it consistent, shouldn't a measurement on the above element after an hour split the universe into 100 branches, 85 of which an alpha particle is recorded, and 15 of which an alpha particle is not recorded (they must be in integers for it is absurd to speak of, say, "half" a universe)? Otherwise, the probability for any quantum event would be precisely 50%. And, even worse, what if the probability is an irrational number, or God-forbid, a non-computable number so that no amount of universes at all can be "keep up" with the probability?
Let's take a hypothetical element which has an 85% chance of emitting an alpha particle in one hour. Now, unless I'm wrong, I believe that Everett's many-worlds interpretation says that a measurement splits the universe into precisely two branches. But to keep it consistent, shouldn't a measurement on the above element after an hour split the universe into 100 branches, 85 of which an alpha particle is recorded, and 15 of which an alpha particle is not recorded (they must be in integers for it is absurd to speak of, say, "half" a universe)? Otherwise, the probability for any quantum event would be precisely 50%. And, even worse, what if the probability is an irrational number, or God-forbid, a non-computable number so that no amount of universes at all can be "keep up" with the probability?