this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2024
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But this assumes a QM interpretation which includes wavefunction collapse. In Many Worlds (and, to me, this experiment is proof of Many Worlds), both the branch where the bomb explodes and the branch where it doesn't explode are equally real. When the bomb explodes in the other branch which you don't observe, you learn the bomb was live. When the bomb explodes in the branch you do observe, your counterpart in the other branch learns the bomb was live. When the bomb is a dud, nothing happens. These are the observed probabilities: 50% nothing happens, 25% you learn the bomb was live without it exploding, 25% your bomb explodes.
This is a powerful argument against the simulation hypothesis. The computer running the universe would have to keep processing the simulation in both forks every time the universe splits, which happens all the time. It would be far less complex to just simulate Newtonian physics.
Imma stop you right there
"The authors reference a similarly informal poll carried out by Max Tegmark at the 'Fundamental Problems in Quantum Theory' conference in August 1997. The main conclusion of the authors is that 'the Copenhagen interprtation still reigns supreme', receiving the most votes in their poll (42%), besides the rise to mainstream notability of the many-worlds interpretations: 'The Copenhagen interpretation still reigns supreme here, especially if we lump it together with intellectual offsprings such as information-based interpretations and the quantum Bayesian interpretation. In Tegmark's poll, the Everett interpretation received 17% of the vote, which is similar to the number of votes (18%) in our poll.'" -Wikipedia
I don't necessarily agree with all of the rest of it (incl the assertion that this thought experiment proves the many-worlds interpretation), but right out of the gate if you're saying wave function collapse isn't part of QM, you gotta tell the physicists that, because they haven't got the message yet that I know of.
And since when is reality governed by majority opinion?
Anyway, maybe Copenhagen is right, and God does play dice. But if Many Worlds is right (and it seems more reasonable to me that "a bomb really does explode elsewhere in the wavefunction" has an observable effect on an experiment than "a bomb might have exploded but randomly decided not to" has any observable effect), then that's a nail in the coffin for the simulation hypothesis.
Aw man
I'm NEVER gonna get that Nobel Prize...
You could always go for the Peace prize. If war criminals can get them, anybody's got a shot.