Overview for peteshnick

In response to comment by peteshnick on The Contrarian Status Catch-22

Comment author: JGWeissman 20 December 2009 05:10:41AM 13 points [-]

I personally like many worlds because it helps me count on quantum immortality ...

I worry whenever someone proclaims to "like" a theory because it predicts high utility, that they are conflating the concepts of "it would be nice for me if this theory were true", and "I believe this theory is true".

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In response to comment by JGWeissman on The Contrarian Status Catch-22

Comment author: peteshnick 20 December 2009 09:06:24PM * 3 points [-]

Hi to all... First off, sorry for the spelling error. Second, the link given above in one of the responses to my original post (given again below) explains why the experiment doesn't jive with Many Worlds (or Copenhagen), at least in the opinion of the author. Third, sorry for not giving more background on the matter - I thought it was fairly well known. It's basically an experiment that seems to contradict the principle of complementarity as it seems to reveal wave and particle features at the same time.

Once again, for background:

Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afshar_experiment

John Cramer on why it contradicts MW: http://www.analogsf.com/0410/altview2.shtml

I'm not saying I buy Cramer's argument - I was just curious as to other people's opinions.

Thanks!

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In response to The Contrarian Status Catch-22

Comment author: peteshnick 20 December 2009 03:29:54AM 1 point [-]

Hi Eliezer,

I personally like many worlds because it helps me count on quantum immortality in case I get hit in the head by a falling 2x4 before the singularity comes. However, I was disturbed when I read about the Ashfar experiment, as it seems to disprove many worlds.. I couldn't find anything on your blog about it.. What do you think about it?