Why is murder wrong if Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is true?

[HappySkeptic]

I want my father dead. So, what is wrong with me making him dead for me? I am not making him dead for himself.

That's not the way it works.

In Many Worlds, this version of him is dead, and the other versions don't exist in this universe.  Plus, you are killing all versions of him that would branch off from this universe.

The echos of other potential versions of reality fade quickly from our universe (not quickly in time, but quickly after many quantum events create enough entropy that the probability of the other realities go to zero).  The question is, do potential realities that no longer have ties to this universe actually exist "somewhere else"? 

I'm not so sure.  When Lee Smolin was asked about Many Worlds about 10 years ago, he said as an alternative "many realities, one universe", as in, the potential realities exist at the same time, here.  When echos of them fade, they are essentially gone.  This is the Relational Interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Many Worlds has one problem - how do "you" find yourself in one branch as opposed to another?  That is unexplained.  Many Worlds came about as a solution to the wavefunction collapse problem, but it only substitutes an analogous problem.

It is not as if your consciousness bounces to a different universe where you are alive, when you die here. If so, we all must be immortal, as there is a non-zero probability that in one quantum path, infinite life extension is invented.

[FlatAssembler]

I want my father dead. So, what is wrong with me making him dead for me? I am not making him dead for himself.

That's not the way it works.

In Many Worlds, this version of him is dead, and the other versions don't exist in this universe.  Plus, you are killing all versions of him that would branch off from this universe.

The echos of other potential versions of reality fade quickly from our universe (not quickly in time, but quickly after many quantum events create enough entropy that the probability of the other realities go to zero).  The question is, do potential realities that no longer have ties to this universe actually exist "somewhere else"? 

I'm not so sure.  When Lee Smolin was asked about Many Worlds about 10 years ago, he said as an alternative "many realities, one universe", as in, the potential realities exist at the same time, here.  When echos of them fade, they are essentially gone.  This is the Relational Interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Many Worlds has one problem - how do "you" find yourself in one branch as opposed to another?  That is unexplained.  Many Worlds came about as a solution to the wavefunction collapse problem, but it only substitutes an analogous problem.

It is not as if your consciousness bounces to a different universe where you are alive, when you die here.  If so, we all must be immortal, as there is a non-zero probability that in one quantum path, infinite life extension is invented.

So, what do you think, is suicide possible? Or do people who try an effective way of doing suicide (jumping off of a building, shooting themselves in the head...) simply wake up in some parallel universe, but with a high probability of being paralyzed?

[HappySkeptic]

So, what do you think, is suicide possible? Or do people who try an effective way of doing suicide (jumping off of a building, shooting themselves in the head...) simply wake up in some parallel universe, but with a high probability of being paralyzed?

I think suicide is the end, but I see where you are going with this.  The daughter of Hugh Everett (inventor of the Many Worlds interpretation) had mental health issues, and killed herself a decade after her father died.   She believed she would be reunited with him in another universe.  Of course, she wasn't a physicist.

In Many Worlds, each quantum event leads to a branching of universes.  That means an unfathomable number of realities.  In fact, the quantum wavefunction of the universe would encompass all possible realities.

Now, let's say someone makes the choice of jumping off a building.  For a few femtoseconds (I'm just making that number up) the atoms in that person's brain might be correlated with the brain of a version of him that has chosen not to jump.  However, by the time that choice builds up in the brain to become something concrete and real (and high-level activity like making a choice is on the order of milliseconds, not the short time of most quantum interactions), there is almost no quantum correlation between the two versions of the person.  In fact, there are quintillions of versions of that person created every second, each branching off and having little correlation to each other.

Now, we perceive ourselves to live in a single stream of reality, with a single version of ourselves.  Whatever those other echos of reality are, they are quickly lost to the "self" that we experience.  Why would we expect to do a consciousness swap?

If there is something mystical and magical behind the experience of "self" (something I think neurology and science would dispute), it would be just as likely you get reborn as an Andromedan slug beetle.

[The Grand Nudger]

A timeline.

Nutter babbles about some horseshit. Nutter tries to rationalize their horseshit. Nutter recieves praise for this effort. Nutter suggests that the praiser would not be pleased if it understood this effort. Nutter wants the praiser dead.

-and scene.

I guess it's a rite of passage for a young man to imagine replacing their father by any number of means. We're raised to be them, and reflect well on them, but the space for that being and reflection is consumed by them. I remember how much I wanted to prove that I could be the bigman when I was a kid, how anxious I was for the opportunity. I also remember how fucking stupid I felt when the bigman finally did keel over and I had my shot. I think I've done well at it, and it's just a shame that the bigman isn't around to see it anymore. His opinion, notes, experience and approval are the closest to my own that might be imagined and so qualify as a unique validation that I will never posess.

[FlatAssembler]

I think suicide is the end

I also think that, but I am not sure. If I was certain that suicide is the end, rather than that I will wake up in some parallel universe paralyzed if I shoot myself in the head (or, for that sake, that afterlife is not real), I would have already done that. I am suffering from mental health issues (a psychotic disorder, I am taking Risperidone, Biperiden and Alprazolam).

[Jehanne]

I think suicide is the end

I also think that, but I am not sure. If I was certain that suicide is the end, rather than that I will wake up in some parallel universe paralyzed if I shoot myself in the head (or, for that sake, that afterlife is not real), I would have already done that. I am suffering from mental health issues (a psychotic disorder, I am taking Risperidone, Biperiden and Alprazolam).

If other quantum worlds exist, they are completely inaccessible from ours, or, at least such is the presumption until proven otherwise.

And, so, suicide is annihilation, death, an endless, dreamless sleep. Just stick it out -- As Winston Churchill stated, "If you're going through hell, keep going."

[FlatAssembler]

I also think that, but I am not sure. If I was certain that suicide is the end, rather than that I will wake up in some parallel universe paralyzed if I shoot myself in the head (or, for that sake, that afterlife is not real), I would have already done that. I am suffering from mental health issues (a psychotic disorder, I am taking Risperidone, Biperiden and Alprazolam).

If other quantum worlds exist, they are completely inaccessible from ours, or, at least such is the presumption until proven otherwise.

And, so, suicide is annihilation, death, an endless, dreamless sleep. Just stick it out -- As Winston Churchill stated, "If you're going through hell, keep going."

Well, if I live to the age of 200, I will be pretty sure Quantum Immortality is real.

[Jehanne]

If other quantum worlds exist, they are completely inaccessible from ours, or, at least such is the presumption until proven otherwise.

And, so, suicide is annihilation, death, an endless, dreamless sleep. Just stick it out -- As Winston Churchill stated, "If you're going through hell, keep going."

Well, if I live to the age of 200, I will be pretty sure Quantum Immortality is real.

You may be absolutely correct, but, as with any and all religious claims, the burden of proof is on you.

[FlatAssembler]

Well, if I live to the age of 200, I will be pretty sure Quantum Immortality is real.

You may be absolutely correct, but, as with any and all religious claims, the burden of proof is on you.

How is that religious?

[Jehanne]

You may be absolutely correct, but, as with any and all religious claims, the burden of proof is on you.

How is that religious?

It's not religious, but, it's in the same category of nonverifiable, nonfalsifiable claims.