"Nicholas Bostrom" <bostrom@mail.ndirect.co.uk> On Thu, 31 Jul 1997 Wrote:
>The Everett theory fails to make sense of the probabilities. For
>instance, take a particle that can undergo either of two processes,
>and say that according to quantum mechanics the first event (A) has
>an 80% chance of occuring, and the second (B) 20%. Now, according to
>the Everett interpretation what happens (basically) is that the
>universe splits into two universes; and there is one copy of me in
>each of these universes. But if this were the case, then there
>should be a 50% chance for me (i.e. *this* copy of Nicholas Bostrom)
>to find that A had happened and a 50% chance that B had happened;
>which we know from experiment is not true. I don't know of any good
>reply to this objection that would save the Everett interpretation.
There is nothing magical about the number 2, it's just the simplest example.
In your case the universe splits into 5, in 4 of them event A happens in one
of them event B happens. You split just like everything else and have an 80%
chance of seeing event A.
John K Clark johnkc@well.com
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