I mean, like, every time something happens, like election results, coups in other countries, dictator gets overthrown by rebels, some corporate ceo getting shot, etc…, I say “hmm, what an interesting timeline I’m on” like half joking as a reference to time travel Movies/TV, but its also kinda half serious.
I mean like, I think about the Cold War and the two famous nuclear close-calls (Cuban Missile Crisis with Vasily Arkhipov, and the Radar False Alarm incident with Stannislav Petrov) amongst many other less-known nuclear close-calls, and I just think, there’s no way we should’ve survived those, like if each incident was a 50%/50% of ending in a nuclear war, then amonst that many close-calls, like 9 out of 10 timelines would’ve been the end of the world. Like it doesn’t really make sense for the world be a non-many worlds type with many different possibilities, cuz we’d be dead from nuking ourselves.
So we just got lucky with ending up on the 1 in every 10 timelines where the world didn’t end. And it seems like out luck has ran out since… I mean look at how the world is dealing with climate change, no country seem to care much, USA just elected a climate change denial party.
So I mean, don’t y’all think this “different timelines” thing make sense?
(Basically what I’m asking is, Many-Worlds Theory? Do you believe that, Yes or No?)
(Sorry if this makes no sense, IDK how to express thoughts properly 😅)
I wonder how the “Alive Harambe” timeline is doing right now?
I hear they have flying cars (greenhouse gas negative) and they’ve just cured cancer.
Does it make sense? Yes Do I believe it? Yesn’t
It’s not testable so it just doesn’t matter to me and I don’t really care to make a choice about it being physical or not, I still experience the universe the same way regardless of how you interpret QM.
Sometimes. It’s an intriguing idea, but do I believe it?
No. To me it seems more reasonable that the universe is infinite and our planet is one of the rare successes where all of the variables came together precisely to create life. I’m certain there are others out there, but also so rare and remote that we’ll almost certainly never become aware of one another.
I think you might be confusing the many worlds hypothesis with something else. Many worlds doesn’t explain why the fundamental variables of the universe are the way they are, it describes the wave-particle duality of quantum mechanics. It’s one of the most logical conclusions of the double slit experiment (Many worlds is the hypothesis that says that the particle passes through both slits)
No. I think the idea that every event that could have multiple outcomes, no matter how minor generates a dedicated full universe from each choice is silly. I do not think there are timelines in that sense, only time. I do think there probably is something in the idea that the observed linear nature of time from past to future is just an idiosyncrasy of our type of life. So it is possible to be informed by other times because they are only separate from a particular point of view.
Imagine if we discovered a creature that evolved fourth-dimensional sensory organs (aka time eyes) that it used to predict its prey. From the outside, it would just appear to have absurd reaction speed. Such a creature might have a strange relationship with time, perhaps appearing to sleep most of the day because they already know what’s going to happen. I’m here today to tell you that cats are this creature.
If you’re referring to the “many-worlds” interpretation of quantum mechanics, I think DeWitt just made a mess of Everett’s original, much stronger “relative-state” formulation. But in either case, the apparent branching is caused by quantum events, while the alternate timelines we imagine as possible outcomes of prior decisions are more often due to our inability to perceive all the (non-quantum) conditions that led to those outcomes not happening.
