{"id":54102,"date":"2024-01-18T11:14:17","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T11:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/0918172e-b478-474d-9bbf-dffb048f298a"},"modified":"2024-01-18T12:33:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T12:33:46","slug":"quantum-immortality-and-living-forever-in-a-theoretical-sense","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/quantum-immortality-and-living-forever-in-a-theoretical-sense\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantum immortality and living forever (in a theoretical sense)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Quantum immortality, quantum suicide, many worlds and Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s Cat, and how they relate to mind-boggling theoretical physics. <\/p>
By Russell Deeks\n <\/p>
Published: Thursday, 18 January 2024 at 11:14 AM<\/p>
\n\n
Quantum immortality is the idea that, if the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics is correct, someone attempting \u2018quantum suicide\u2019 would fail, as there would be at least one timeline in which they survive.<\/p>
Confused? Then let\u2019s rewind a little and talk about a concept that most people are familiar with.<\/p>
Quantum immortality and Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s Cat<\/strong><\/h2>Illustration representing the Schr\u00f6dinger’s Cat thought experiment. According to quantum mechanics, the cat is both alive and dead until directly observed. Credit: Dhatfield \/ Wiki<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s Cat is the hypothetical feline inside a cardboard box that\u2019s either been killed, or not, by a bullet fired by a gun controlled by a \u2018qubit\u2019, a particle that can be in two states at once.<\/p>
Per quantum theory, the cat is both alive AND dead until an outside observer looks inside the box to check.<\/p>
But there are two interpretations of what\u2019s happening here.<\/p>
According to the standard \u2018Copenhagen interpretation\u2019 (CI) of quantum theory, whichever of the two states is NOT observed immediately collapses: that is, if you see a dead cat, there is no alternate timeline where the cat is alive.<\/p>
According to the \u2018many worlds interpretation\u2019 (MWI) proposed by Hugh Everett in 1957, though, there are now two extant timelines: one in which the cat lived, and one in which it died.<\/p>
Other theoreticians later suggested that an easy way to check this would be to put yourself in the same position as Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s cat \u2013 inside a box with a qubit-controlled gun firing at you.<\/p>
That\u2019s what we mean by attempting \u2018quantum suicide\u2019.<\/p>
If you find yourself alive once the box has been opened, then you clearly now exist on a timeline in which you\/the cat survived: that is to say, MWI is correct.<\/p>
And you have achieved \u2018quantum immortality\u2019.<\/p>
Could quantum immortality actually happen?<\/strong><\/h2>According to quantum immortality, a collision in one timeline was a near-miss in another. Credit: Ratstuben \/ Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
What\u2019s more, say proponents of the idea, quantum immortality could have happened before, in the real world.<\/p>
That car that nearly ran you over? Some would argue that, in another timeline, it did indeed hit you, and you died \u2013 and it\u2019s only thanks to quantum immortality that you\u2019re reading this now.<\/p>
Other physicists, mathematicians and philosophers have suggested there are major problems with this idea.<\/p>
They point to the non-binary nature of death (it\u2019s usually a long, slow, multi-faceted process) and the mathematical difficulties of talking about probability in any meaningful way in a quantum universe.<\/p>
But those are highly complex arguments, and probably best saved for another day\u2026<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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