Re: Hanson: Is our universe about to be mangled?

From: George Dvorsky (george@betterhumans.com)
Date: Thu Feb 23 2006 - 14:27:17 MST


Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:

> This is a sensationalistic misinterpretation of Hanson's argument.
>
> Check the original. http://hanson.gmu.edu/mangledworlds.html
>
Ah, you are quite right. Hanson's is quite different.

He says: " In Everett's many worlds interpretation, quantum measurements
are considered to be decoherence events. If so, then inexact decoherence
may allow large worlds to mangle the memory of observers in small
worlds, creating a cutoff in observable world size. *Smaller world are
mangled and so not observed.* If this cutoff is much closer to the
median measure size than to the median world size, the distribution of
outcomes seen in unmangled worlds follows the Born rule. Thus deviations
from exact decoherence may allow the Born rule to be derived via world
counting, with a finite number of worlds and no new fundamental physics."

[emphasis mine]

Tx,
George



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