On Sunday, January 12, 2003, at 06:54 PM, Russell Standish wrote:
(I'll limit myself to only commenting on the last, and most interesting, point.)
This is where I lose your argument. I can't see why an MWI
communication capable civilisation should be able to spread throughout
our universe any faster than a non-MWI communication capable one. And
even if its true, all it does is place tighter bounds on how difficult
it is to create such civilisations.
I agree that I didn't spend as much time as I could have on this point.
Consider what would happen if MWI communication/travel happened in our timeline.
First, let's distinguish between what I'll "weak MWI communications" and "strong MWI communications" (or travel, which is essentially isomorphic to communication):
* Weak MWI communication. Strange, cryptic, ghostly sorts of communications, somewhat like the "I Ching" pentagrams and fleeting glimpses of "close" worlds in Dick's "The Man in the High Castle," Echoed in the James Hogan novel from 1997, "Paths to Otherwhere, and in a time travel version in Greg Benford's "Timescape," where a future/branch a century in the future attempts to communicate via particle physics with the "present" to stop/alter an outcome.
* Strong MWI communication. Full communication with other branches, including substantive exchanges of information. Heinlein's "Glory Road" is a somewhat fantasy-oriented take on this, but the notion is clear: "Queen of the Nine Billion Universes," etc.
Imagine what will happen if strong MWI communication happens in our universe, our branch:
-- presumably access to all of the manifold knowledge from every universe which has done science, engineering, etc.
-- vast amounts of technology (as some universes are "ahead" because the Newtonian revolution happened in 535 A.D., etc.)
-- like a quantum computer, every calculation run a bunch of times, answers already known
A summary of the Hogan book captures a bit of the impact:
"The well-worn sf notion of parallel universes receives a computer-driven update in Hogan's latest novel. Berkeley research scientists Hugh Brenner and Theo Jantowitz are just beginning to make startling progress in siphoning information from other universes by means of sophisticated computer technology when their funding disappears. Fortunately but not fortuitously, they are recruited by a secret Defense Department research arm to continue their work under the umbrella of Project Octagon. Joined by a motley team of brilliant minds, including a Buddhist philosopher, the two quickly develop the means to shift their awarenesses to other versions of themselves in the "multiverse" and to preview thereby future outcomes for their home universe ..."
This is why is it seems reasonable to me that MWI communication would dramatically a civilization's technology.
(Not saying this knowledge would cause them to colonize the universe...maybe they'd give up in despair, or contemplate their navels, whatever. But contact with 10^10^N other worlds sure could be a kick in the pants, a kick that puts a civilization drastically ahead of any civilization which is still evolving "unitarily.")
>From Hal's reference to Mike Price's document (which I read several years ago, so I'd forgotten or had not read his bit about MWI and Fermi), it looks like Price reached the same conclusion.
--Tim May
