Thanks for the recommendation Brent, I have now read Scott's blog and while remaining as agnostic as ever, it's given me even more to occupy myself with at 4am if I can't sleep and start wondering whether there's a copy of me that can (either in a quantum branch or far, far across the universe).
By the way, the quantum computer article I mentioned was https://jasondeegan.com/even-10000-trillion-years-might-not-suffice-for-a- supercomputer-to-outperform-googles-new-quantum-machine/ As for Chatty's estimate of the fundamental computational limit, it's probably wrong but I just used it for the sake illustration. I'm sure there must be some sort of limit in a quantised universe, so I guess David Deutsch's argument still remains "in principle" testable, just like flying around the solar system does. As it happens, I sometimes ask Chatty complicated questions about cryptic crossword clues, and it invariably tries to answer while missing the point of what I mean - which means my job as a crossword compiler remains safe from AI for now, at least. Best wishes, Liz On Wednesday, 26 February 2025 at 18:41:34 UTC+13 Brent Meeker wrote: Have you read Scott Aaronson's blog on MWI. https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=1103 I especially recommend his answer to Greg Egan's comment. Brent On 2/25/2025 6:56 PM, Liz R wrote: On Thursday, 6 February 2025 at 07:42:57 UTC+13 Alan Grayson wrote: And why the MWI is unverifiable and tantamount to a fantasy. AG I don't know if David Deutsch still considers this a valid response, but it's come a darn sight closer to reality since he suggested it back in the 90s (I think). He claimed that explaining a sufficiently advanced quantum computer requires the MWI. The other day I saw a headline about the latest quantum computer that could - in principle, of course - outperform a classical computer by a factor of many trillions. Unfortunately I can't remember where I saw it, but there was some huge age-of-the-universe-plus claim involved. So, if we assume that a quantum computer can reach the point where it outperforms a classical computer by more than the theoretical limit - something involving the Bekenstein Bound and Margolus-Levitin Limit, apparently, which ChatGPT reliably informs me for a volume V and time t comes down to Max computations∼(c^5/ ℏG) . tV (c, G and h bar having their usual values). So if this is possible, the MWI would become verifiable, in that - to quote Professor Deutsch - where else can the computations be performed, except in branches of a multiverse? Anyway, I don't suppose this will actually be demonstrated anytime soon, but it is one theoretical test of the MWI, hence it's - very much in principle - verifiable. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/d384b091-58cb-42c8-b107-3ee49d8d3fcfn%40googlegroups.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/d384b091-58cb-42c8-b107-3ee49d8d3fcfn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> . -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/38954b19-9103-4497-8d6c-9dcb03abda53n%40googlegroups.com.
