this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts

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[–] kromem@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

It's also a common misconception that Everett's many worlds involves an infinite number of universes.

And that it involves multiple outcomes for macro objects like lottery balls.

It only means multiple 'worlds' specifically for quantum outcomes, so in OP's case their winning or not winning the lottery would need to be dependent on a superposition of quanta (i.e. Schrodinger's lottery ticket).

And given the prevailing thinking is that there's a finite number of quanta in the universe, there cannot be an infinite number of parallel worlds. (There could only be an infinite number of aggregate worlds if time is infinite and there's perpetual quantum 'foam' in its final state perpetuating multiple possibilities).

The theory is much less interesting than is often depicted in mass media (though as of recently is a fair bit more interesting given the way many worlds as a theory would mirror what backpropagation of the physical universe might look like).