On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:35:37 -0400, "Neil B."
<neil_delver@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>This is reposted essentially as is from sci.physics etc. Now, I wonder
>if "logic" can provide any interesting insights into the problem:
>
>Here's my humorous take on science and politics, modified from my recent
>posts to NG alt.fan.rawilson and Backreaction blog:
>
>My subtle quantum psi powers* tell me that the LHC did indeed "destroy
>the world" last week, but it doesn't matter anyway ...!? "The" world
>didn't get destroyed because there are so many of them according to the
>Everett-DeWitt "many worlds" theory of quantum mechanics. In the MW
>theory, each instance of random possibility branches into entire new
>universes expressing every option. (Like, whether Schrödinger's cat dies
>or not at any given moment. BTW don't let decoherence sophists take the
>mystery away.)
>
>For example, suppose that the chance of LHC experiments to date
>destroying the Earth is about 99.99%. You're ordinarily inclined to say,
>"we" probably wouldn't have made it. (That's a unique "we" in one
>universe, as conventionally imagined.) But suppose E-DW MW is true, and
>me and readers of this post are just in a multiverse branch that
>survived! The LHC may have already destroyed most Earths and "we" can't
>tell the difference!
>("Quantum suicide" [hint - you survive the attempt!]):
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_suicide_and_immortality)
>(* inside joke, including the asterisk)
>
>Here's something you can try: set up a "cat" type arrangement to kill
>you if McCain/Palin win the election, but leave you fully intact if they
>lose (put aside recount scandals, heh.) Hence, even if they have a 99%
>or whatever chance of winning, "you" (well, those versions of you that
>get through) will survive and be able to enjoy an Obama-Biden
>administration! Modify for any situation you don't want to put up with,
>like today's big financial meltdown! You can even ensure you win the
>lottery, etc.! Isn't that cool?!
>
>The genuine logical problems for scientific method, expectation issues,
>etc. in this regard mean that maybe MW is BS after all ...But a man, or
>woman, can dream; or what's a heaven or multiple worlds for?
That's funny but premature. The world didn't get destroyed because
there were no significant collisions in progress, it is only in the
testing phase right now.
--
" If I had remembered that the name 'Galt' appears
in one of her books, I would have chosen a different
name for my character."
Stephen R. Donaldson, "Gradual Interview"
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