If the many worlds of the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics are real, there's at least a good chance that Quantum Immortality is real as well: All conscious beings should expect to experience the next moment in at least one Everett branch even if they stop existing in all other branches, and the moment after that in at least one other branch, and so on forever.
However, the transition from life to death isn't usually a binary change. For most people it happens slowly as your brain and the rest of your body deteriorates, often painfully.
Doesn't it follow that each of us should expect to keep living in this state of constant degradation and suffering for a very, very long time, perhaps forever?
I don't know much about quantum mechanics, so I don't have anything to contribute to this discussion. I'm just terrified, and I'd like, not to be reassured by well-meaning lies, but to know the truth. How likely is it that Quantum Torment is real?
Hm, I think my confusion is over the idea of quantum immortality in general rather than specific to the torment scenario.
If I understand it correctly, QI says that at some point in time there will exist a single branch containing a "me" that, against all odds, never dies. The idea of quantum torture comes from noting that continuing to exist in a state of right-about-to-die would likely be extremely unpleasant.
So, what makes this single branch so important? Why is the me in that branch more "me" than a me any given branch that exists with temporally concurrence to other branches? For example, there is probably a branch out there where I am existing in horrible agony at this point in time. I don't see why we should worry about the quantum torture branch and not this branch. They both contain "me."
Basically, QI gives more importance to a "me" in a branch that is temporally isolated from "me's" in other branches. I don't see why this is the case or why time should be a factor at all.