Do you have free will?

[The Minsky Moment]

In relativity theory is both frames of reference are valid; from the reference frame of Alderaan I must pull the trigger.

But free will is subjective personal experience; so for that purpose the only frame of reference that matters is the subject.  From the POV of Alderaanis, my actions are pre-determined, but I don't care about their POV (indeed I have decided to annihilate it).  From my POV I have a choice.

[frunk]

Frunk,

If QM is correct and all outcomes are possible then how does it makes sense to speak of only one outcome being predetermined?

It would be better to say that QM means we can't predetermine what possibility is going to happen.  In that sense all outcomes are possible, but given the consistent and verifiable behavior of the universe most outcomes are so mind-bogglingly unlikely that it's a serious exaggeration.  Someone with a god-like view of the universe not subject to the restrictions of QM could very easily see it as being completely deterministic.

[Savonarola]

In relativity theory is both frames of reference are valid; from the reference frame of Alderaan I must pull the trigger.

But free will is subjective personal experience; so for that purpose the only frame of reference that matters is the subject.  From the POV of Alderaanis, my actions are pre-determined, but I don't care about their POV (indeed I have decided to annihilate it).  From my POV I have a choice.

But you can't decide not to pull the trigger since you already destroyed Alderaan.  Your action is predetermined.

[crazy canuck]

Frunk,

If QM is correct and all outcomes are possible then how does it makes sense to speak of only one outcome being predetermined?

It would be better to say that QM means we can't predetermine what possibility is going to happen.  In that sense all outcomes are possible, but given the consistent and verifiable behavior of the universe most outcomes are so mind-bogglingly unlikely that it's a serious exaggeration.  Someone with a god-like view of the universe not subject to the restrictions of QM could very easily see it as being completely deterministic.

I thought QM goes further and predicts that not only are all outcomes possible but that all outcomes do in fact occur in an infinite number of universes?

Here is the first thing I found on a google search.

On a larger scale, MWI would mean that everything which can happen will happen in at least one universe. Based on this, Max Tegmark at Princeton University suggested an experiment to prove that the many-worlds interpretation is correct, where one points a loaded gun at one's head, and pulls the trigger. If you were to try this test, it is highly unlikely that you would survive... but if the gun failed to go off, and continued to do so in subsequent tests, you could eventually become reasonably confident that you're in one of the branched universes where something caused the gun to misfire each time. Of course only the "you" in those "miraculous survival" universes would know this, the others would all be dead from gunshot wounds to the head

[Valmy]

What if you built your Death Star that had remote tachyon control and you pressed the button to destroy Alderaan on Alderaan?  You are committing an impossible act yes?

[Ideologue]

MWI is only one interpretation, though one supported by evidence (quantum computers work).

Hamilcar and I had this argument like eight years ago.  He's way smarter than me (I think he's probably the smartest person that ever posted here), and he thought that there was no material or objective reality to particles in a coherent state, and thus there were no multiple universes.  That said, he's also a cosmologist, and QM isn't his field of expertise.

[frunk]

I thought QM goes further and predicts that not only are all outcomes possible but that all outcomes do in fact occur in an infinite number of universes?

Here is the first thing I found on a google search.

QM is a specific theory in Physics that describes actual observed behavior.  The MWI is an attempted explanation for why QM works.  There's no evidence for MWI being true versus the many other attempted explanations for QM.

[PDH]

I should have never put the tachyon trigger in that box with the damn cat and the isotope.

[frunk]

MWI is only one interpretation, though one supported by evidence (quantum computers work).

What exactly in quantum computers working implies MWI?

[Savonarola]

I should have never put the tachyon trigger in that box with the damn cat and the isotope.

[crazy canuck]

I thought QM goes further and predicts that not only are all outcomes possible but that all outcomes do in fact occur in an infinite number of universes?

Here is the first thing I found on a google search.

QM is a specific theory in Physics that describes actual observed behavior.  The MWI is an attempted explanation for why QM works.  There's no evidence for MWI being true versus the many other attempted explanations for QM.

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

[Ideologue]

MWI is only one interpretation, though one supported by evidence (quantum computers work).

What exactly in quantum computers working implies MWI?

My gut instinct is that calculations require material, and that material has got to be somewhere.  Factoring a large number demands unimaginable amounts of material.

There are more formal reasons, but it's been ages since I've read up on it.

[Savonarola]

What if you built your Death Star that had remote tachyon control and you pressed the button to destroy Alderaan on Alderaan?  You are committing an impossible act yes?

I don't think that even violates free will.  I press my tachyon trigger and two years later, from Alderaan's frame of reference, Alderaan is destroyed.  In that case, if I have free will, I can decide not to destroy Alderaan before I destroy Alderaan.

[frunk]

My gut instinct is that calculations require material, and that material has got to be somewhere.  Factoring a large number demands unimaginable amounts of material.

There are more formal reasons, but it's been ages since I've read up on it.

I'm not sure that I understand what you mean by material.

[Valmy]

What if you built your Death Star that had remote tachyon control and you pressed the button to destroy Alderaan on Alderaan?  You are committing an impossible act yes?

I don't think that even violates free will.  I press my tachyon trigger and two years later, from Alderaan's frame of reference, Alderaan is destroyed.  In that case, if I have free will, I can decide not to destroy Alderaan before I destroy Alderaan.

Ah I thought Alderaan would had to  have already been blown up years before?