SoullessAutomaton comments on On dollars, utility, and crack cocaine - Less Wrong

13 Post author: PhilGoetz 04 April 2009 12:00AM

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Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 04 April 2009 12:16:03PM 0 points [-]

On a whim, I once played the lottery on the theory that the Many Worlds Interpretation is true, and some branch of me would win. I like to think he's out there somewhere.

Did you use a quantum random number generator?

(Of course, if MWI really is true, then some other me in some other branch would have played the lottery even if I hadn't, so strictly speaking I didn't even need to...)

There's no law of physics stating that you make all possible decisions in different MWI branches, though sufficiently different people who otherwise resemble you might.

Comment author: SoullessAutomaton 04 April 2009 01:04:34PM 2 points [-]

Did you use a quantum random number generator?

All random number generators are quantum, just with very skewed probabilities. Maybe a lot of electrons will spontaneously be somewhere unlikely and cause my computer to miscompute the next term of a Mersenne Twister.

This is a somewhat useless point, though...

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 04 April 2009 07:11:25PM 1 point [-]

In this sense, you don't need "random number generators" at all, just wait for your computer to spontaneously transform into a fire-breathing dragon.

Comment author: gjm 04 April 2009 11:04:24PM 1 point [-]

That's actually quite a good way of deciding when to buy lottery tickets and when not to.

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