Quantum Suicide

[Dionysus]

A man sits down before a gun, which is pointed at his head. This is no ordinary gun; it's rigged to a machine that measures the spin of a quantum particle. Each time the trigger is pulled, the spin of the quantum particle -- or quark -- is measured. Depending on the measurement, the gun will either fire, or it won't. If the quantum particle is measured as spinning in a clockwise motion, the gun will fire. If the quark is spinning counterclockwise, the gun won't go off. There'll only be a click.
Nervously, the man takes a breath and pulls the trigger. The gun clicks. He pulls the trigger again. Click. And again: click. The man will continue to pull the trigger again and again with the same result: The gun won't fire. Although it's functioning properly and loaded with bullets, no matter how many times he pulls the trigger, the gun will never fire. He'll continue this process for eternity, becoming immortal.

Go back in time to the beginning of the experiment. The man pulls the trigger for the very first time, and the quark is now measured as spinning clockwise. The gun fires. The man is dead.
But, wait. The man already pulled the trigger the first time -- and an infinite amount of times following that -- and we already know the gun didn't fire. How can the man be dead? The man is unaware, but he's both alive and dead. Each time he pulls the trigger, the universe is split in two. It will continue to split, again and again, each time the trigger is pulled [source: Tegmark].
This thought experiment is called quantum suicide. It was first posed by then-Princeton University theorist Max Tegmark in 1997 (now on faculty at MIT). A thought experiment is an experiment that takes place only in the mind. The quantum level is the smallest level of matter we've detected so far in the universe. Matter at this level is infinitesimal, and it's virtually impossible for scientists to research it in a practical manner using traditional methods of scientific inquiry.

What do you guys make of this? This is very interesting to read

 

[StaroRavager]

So pretty much multiverse level Russian roulette

 

[ihaveno1]

i hate being stuck in this universe, want to go to a better one

 

[TheRealChincel]

I’ll wait for the VR tbh, yeah, I never found that appealing.

 

[ChinaNumber1Fan]

Multiverse is so ontologically bloated. It's especially difficult since it isn't really a tested theory. If we are assuming that our universe is self-contained, perception of other universes should be fundamentally impossible. Another thought experiment I think Tegmark posed was the notion of Quantum Immortality which builds up on this. Basically that you are always in the universe where you continue to live cause that consciousness can not be destroyed. It seems on the surface like it is probable, but is it? Think of people that lived 3 thousand years ago in shitholes with poor nutrition and disease. Do you really think there is a chance such a person from their perspective successfully lived until today? Really the thought of that happening is more scary than assuring.

 

[gigacel123]

Multiverse is so ontologically bloated. It's especially difficult since it isn't really a tested theory. If we are assuming that our universe is self-contained, perception of other universes should be fundamentally impossible. Another thought experiment I think Tegmark posed was the notion of Quantum Immortality which builds up on this. Basically that you are always in the universe where you continue to live cause that consciousness can not be destroyed. It seems on the surface like it is probable, but is it? Think of people that lived 3 thousand years ago in shitholes with poor nutrition and disease. Do you really think there is a chance such a person from their perspective successfully lived until today? Really the thought of that happening is more scary than assuring.

Above the average intelligence post. Goodjob greycel.

 

[Deleted member 8353]

I don't think that's possible, and even if it is, it's a better argument for the simulation hypothesis than much else(like quantum physics in general, from my extremely limited understanding of it). It's not the universe splitting in two, but merely the individual in question. Except split isn't exactly the right word, it's more like he's copied and the "original" ceases to exist the moment it happens(at least that's my educated guess, but regardless I don't buy into the idea of quantum suicide, I think it's nonsense tbh), totally oblivious to everyone, even the person to whom this happens.

This is an examination of what happens to an individual except wrongly projected upon everything else as well. Another universe isn't created, you just stop existing, there can only ever be one outcome, at least as far as we're concerned anyway.

The man is unaware, but he's both alive and dead.

People are always both alive and dead(or more accurately, either none of us really exist, or at least our existence is extremely brief), but merely because of death being an inevitability rather than even getting to the notion of continuously diverging paths, as well as due to the nature of consciousness itself. The former is referring to the perception of time, and that with something which perceives it fast enough, everything would both exist and not exist all at once, meaning that it doesn't(or rather can't) exist in the first place. The latter is to say that all the information we have now suggests that consciousness is a created and non constant process happening in the brain, utilizing multiple areas to create an individual. I use the word "create" specifically, as it's not that you or I are constantly present(if nothing else think of stage 3 NREM sleep or anesthesia) or that you are "switched on" perfectly as with what might happen with a program on a computer, but rather that you are essentially created anew every time that "you" are recalled, just like what happens with memory. The "you" from the previous day is as inaccessible as the first, freshest iteration of memory. As with memory, the self constantly changes with every recollection.

But back on track, even if quantum suicide were true, it would be imperceptible to us anyway, so it's more or less a moot point. Although then again, so is everything that I just touched upon.

If we are assuming that our universe is self-contained, perception of other universes should be fundamentally impossible.

Exactly. Even if most of this is true, it's totally inconsequential to us.

nother thought experiment I think Tegmark posed was the notion of Quantum Immortality which builds up on this. Basically that you are always in the universe where you continue to live cause that consciousness can not be destroyed. It seems on the surface like it is probable, but is it? Think of people that lived 3 thousand years ago in shitholes with poor nutrition and disease. Do you really think there is a chance such a person from their perspective successfully lived until today? Really the thought of that happening is more scary than assuring.

Which goes back to my previous point, I suspect most people have a fundamental misunderstanding of what consciousness even is, and only under this false notion can the concept of quantum immortality be true.

Sorry if none of this makes sense, it's hard to type my thoughts in such a way to make them be understood by others.