LHC to start up again

[trekkiedane]

LHCb catches a splash from the LHC beam

Click image to go to gif animation.​

 

[Brandonv]

It assumes that your consciousness, once formed, would always have a non-zero probability of continuing to exist in an every decreasing fraction of an infinite number of universes. You only experience the universe in which your consciousness continues. However, not every accident kills or doesn't kill you -- many simply leave you maimed, and you still have a non-zero probability of your consciousness surviving to infinity in that state.[...]

This has never made much sense to me, because I would think that all the possible branches of the multiverse would still have to obey the laws of physics. For example, I would not expect there to be a universe where a spacecraft accelerates to the speed of light, because the probability of it happening is 0. Likewise, I would expect the laws of physics to put a limit on how long a human body can last. Is there really a universe where a 20,000 year old caveman is still alive? How would a consciousness survive the death of the universe (big rip, big crunch, ect).

Also, why should the person find themselves in an increasingly deteriorated state? Maybe a technological singularity will occur, and I will upload my mind into an ageless machine.

Or maybe something even more wild. In the novel "The Light of Other Days", people in the future use mini wormholes to look into the past, at each persons mind before their death, and bring them into the future, resurrecting every person who has ever lived.

Going back to the caveman, I guess that he could be abducted by advanced aliens who upload his consciousness into an ageless body.

Just some musings from someone with almost no formal physics education.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Just some musings from someone with almost no formal physics education.

Your and FordSVT's objections are my objections also. What is termed "quantum mysticism" is not part of traditional physics education. Most physicists would look at such speculation with embarassment. They only use QM to do their calculations (aka "shut up and calculate"). I find reading about this stuff amusing, and I don't have to worry about career damage from admitting this. My opinion (for what little that's worth) is that such outlandish ideas as quantum immortality arise because something is either missing from our knowledge or lacking in our interpretation.

 

[FordSVT]

This has never made much sense to me, because I would think that all the possible branches of the multiverse would still have to obey the laws of physics. For example, I would not expect there to be a universe where a spacecraft accelerates to the speed of light, because the probability of it happening is 0.

True, but in one of the universes spawned from ours immediately after the big bang, the laws of physics are slightly different but still allow the possibility of a you. Some don't allow for the possibility of anything. That's the idea anyway.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

I think this Quantum Immortality thing is a load of crap. Even if there were an infinite number of universes, a person only lives so long. Eventually you'd be dead in all of 'em

 

[FordSVT]

Some would say. Some would say that in an infinite quantum universe the "Face of Boe" actually exists.