Multiple Worlds Hypothesis: Geek World vs. Real World

[deane]

I'm watching a semi-philosophical discussion on bloggingheads.tv between a Transhumanist and a Bayesian. In discussing the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics both are quick to dismiss the Copenhagen interpretation because it essentially requires that the observer consist of something other than just atoms. "You'd need something like a soul," says one, and they both laugh.

The religious among you may be shaking your heads in sorrow or disgust, but for me this is a refreshing change from reading stories of American politics in which religion, more often than not, is a complicating factor.

A world run by geeks might have lots of flaws, but this is one area in which it would be a pleasant change.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

The problem with that is that while the observer consists of atoms, atoms consist of modulated energy fields.. or strings, depending on how you look at it, which are in turn a function of what we refer to as space being stressed in more than three dimensions, [i.e brane theory]. Ergo the observer has a multi-dimensional stress-field function which is in effect the observers own discrete probability waveform which is part of the inherent conformation of the multiverse's probability space... or basically, a soul. [minus the hand-waving 'it's magic' part.]

Thus proving Clarke's axiom by the way.

But yeah, a geeks world might be better in some ways...there'd still be flame wars though, just about different topics. [mac vs pc for example]