Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Does the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics necessarily imply every world exist?



I know the Many Worlds interpretation is controversial among physicists, but it's been a pop culture hit nonetheless. I frequently see people making statements like, "Well in another universe I'm a rock star", where you can substitute rock star for any given fantasy.


But one thing that's always bothered me about that kind of statement: does Many Worlds really imply Every World? You can have an infinite set of numbers that doesn't include every number.


So even assuming MWI is true, is it necessarily true that one of those universes contain a rockstar version of myself?



Answer



No, it doesn't. For example, since charge is conserved, every "world" in the wavefunction must have the same charge. This goes for any other conserved quantity, too.


(This doesn't rule out you being a rockstar, though.)


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