Parallel Worlds pro et contra

Chapter 12. Quantum Suicide

After all the preparations, a meeting of the Sphere system's governing council was scheduled. At the meeting, among themselves and to any outside observer, they were ordinary citizens, but were the real leaders of well-known international, political, governmental structures, secret clubs, religious and charitable organizations. Rutra took Amita with him to the meeting, having previously agreed with the council. No one but Rutra and the "luminary of science" knew where this secret identity came from. But Rutra was going to announce it later, after he had conducted a trial experiment.

Amita, of course, had no idea of the location of the facility or the people with whom she would be in contact. Those were the rules, and Ruthra, even in his high status, could not break them. Once everything was ready and the masks were put on, the assistants turned on the overview. The theme of the program included visualization of outer space. The signal to begin was given. Everyone tuned in to hear an interesting interpretation of their intentions from the "luminary of science". The scientist began his speech without introduction.

– Once upon a time it would have been amazing for us to hear that the same events can happen in different parts of the world, such as a cup of coffee in the morning, which can be reported almost instantly, and sometimes online, in photo or video mode, to all parts of the world. Or, for example, you copy the same information and increase the number of bytes in the drive because of it. Simply put – you fill something with the same copy. The same thing becomes a lot, the space fills up, but nothing fundamentally new appears. You already know about our program, about the method, I'm not afraid to say, of discovery. The key element in the search was a multiworld interpretation of the surrounding reality. Since the existence of many worlds, many variants of our world, is being scientifically studied, I decided to find out where they really are. Where are they in practice, so to speak. Let's get into the science a bit. Like other interpretations, the many-worlds interpretation is meant to explain the traditional two-slit experiment. Simply put, the experiment where a particle flies out and a wave flies in. The paradox is that such an experiment in the observable world should look like this: a bullet flies out and an arrow flies in. And, as we know, the most interesting thing is this: this property manifests itself if there is an observation of it. To put it simply, there is a variety of different worlds, universes, but judging by the logic this experiment gives us, they can be seen, understood and felt only by those who can see, understand and feel them. Tell me, isn't it a paradox? You are probably laughing already, but let me remind you: everyone laughed at the fact that "a bullet flies out and an arrow flies in". And this is a fact, and no one can neither prove nor disprove it. If we look, the particle travels as a wave, if we don't look, it travels as a ball. Who does that? So much for the paradox of intelligence in the universe. All right, I've gone too far. What I was going to say. It makes sense that time and space are infinite, doesn't it? It makes sense. Why? Because if they end, what comes after them? And after them, there's only them. Can there be infinite variants of something in infinity? You will answer – maybe, and I will confidently say – yes. Therefore it is logical that in this infinity, somewhere in the incredible depths, or distances, or variants of universes, there is a moment exactly repeating this one. That is, there's exactly the same great scientist telling equally intelligent and respected colleagues about the existence of our world. A world called planet Earth. Imagine what his colleagues think. What? Yes, that's right. They think exactly what you're thinking. You will say: well, dear and great, let it be your way, let there be an incredible number (billions, trillions, trillions, trillions, let there be a number of (billions, trillions, trillions, trillions, let there be a number of googols, let there be a number of Graham's number raised to billion-trillionth degrees) universes, in them – as many galaxies, billions and trillions of stars, trillions and trillions of planets, and in the midst of all this – let there be possible existence of exactly the same world as ours, and exactly the same situation. But why should we think exactly as we do now? To put it more simply: let there be a world like ours in infinity, and let us be the same there, but is it natural for us to think the same way? So I'll tell you this. You have now given birth to the same infinite number of worlds just because you have thought about them, you have already let your thoughts into them, and there are several billions of their variants, and there is one exactly the same one that has passed in your brain now.

Even though everyone was wearing masks, they could see each other's facial expressions, emotions, and movements in real life. Some of those at the table, who were not from the science block, sat with their elbows on the table and rubbed their foreheads with their palms. Such multilevel complex interpretations of the scientist were already habitual for them, as well as the paradoxical nature of his next sentence, which, however, always had a logically justified confirmation of the arguments and examples given.

That is why the definition – the great luminary of science – he was given with a joking smile, which, however, in no way hurt his ego. He had the talent of a scientific fantasist, translating everything incredible into reality so magnificently that any most delusional idea coming out of his mouth was perceived not only with faith in the possibility of realization, but also with fear that he had conceived such a thing. The internal security service was constantly scanning his brain, even his trips to the toilet were under full control, because they were afraid: there was little chance that the scientist could think up and put into practice.

"Mage" he continued, charged with super strength:

– There are many assumptions as to how it actually works, but they all fall into two important kinds. The first: all universes live independently, are quite unlike each other; the second: worlds are parallel almost literally, have billions of variants of events, with two or more almost identical ones occurring. Scientifically speaking, it is like this: the possibility of their existence consists in the assumption that this universe state is a quantum superposition of several (and possibly an infinite number of) states of identical non-interacting parallel universes.

He suddenly raised his head high and looked around at everyone, focusing his gaze on the lady invited by Rutra. Despite her presence having been agreed upon and approved by the council for three months now (accordingly, the direction of the program had been known for at least 6 months), still the mysterious appearance of an unknown person in such a secret location was troubling. Rutra had informed the council in advance of the future revelation of her identity, explaining such a thing as further proof of the real workings of the method used to carry out the program-experiment.

– I've got it all figured out, you don't have to tell me. Everything will be with description… Superposition is superposition of one state on another, that is existence in several states at the same time. If a photon or an electron is in superposition – it does everything at once at the same time. It is both a particle and a wave; it is in several places at once, it can form perfect and imperfect forms; simply put, it behaves – you can't guess how. But everything changes as soon as the observer arrives. It seems as if the particle knows about the measuring apparatus and the observer. The photon immediately becomes law-abiding and starts to behave according to some single scenario. This is called "superposition collapse", or "wave function collapse". It is the presence of an observer that makes the chaos disappear and turn into one possible scenario. Here's a miracle one, here's a miracle two. That's me talking about the observer. Think why, as soon as the concept of God, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, omnipresent, appears in the human consciousness, the concepts of goodness and sin, hell and heaven, order and chaos appear at once… Now about the existence of such universes, where these naughty particles, which are billions of trillions of trillions in trillionth degrees, form their worlds. That is, worlds whose original imprint they have formed, relying on the world from whence they came, or, to be more precise, where they were born, or, even more precisely, from a kind of mirror reflection of one world in another. For in those times when people did not know a mirror, something similar was imagined by seeing the properties of reflection in nature. And in essence, what is it? It is a flight of the Sun's particles, for example, to our face, a bounce from it, a flight to water, say, and after the bounce – a flight back to the face, or rather, to our eyes, or more precisely – to the brain. It is the same in the Universe: some particles came from somewhere, entered our world, transformed it… in fact – formed it the way it is, and they change it constantly, flew to those areas where there is a corresponding environment, the formation of the similar, and there already appeared a world that thinks that it is the only possible one. Let's take an even more incredible example – the conception of a child, a living being in general. After all, it is usual for us, so it is not surprising that absolutely incredible processes are going on, all components are combined, and under certain conditions before, during and after, and the miracle of life appears. And at first the embryo does not resemble a human creature at all. For simplicity, imagine a world where only robots live. A world where artificial intelligence lives, and it produces its own kind. Let's say it has no information, no knowledge of the existence of a method of birth for living beings. They simply don't know our and similar life form. They have some truth embedded in them, for example, that they were created by some space robot. Then, of course, the human method of creating their own kind is simply absurd, bordering on delirium. After all, thousands of gods, which were and are in the history of mankind, are also incredible for us. We think that they are creations of our mind and imagination, we believe that it is god who gave us these concepts. There's no other way. If otherwise, then it is no god, because it is already a generation of human mind. God is also a kind of mirror picture formed by our thoughts, and they in their turn, proceeding from the received life experience, are projected into the material world by our deeds. And as for the example with conception, I will repeat once again: if, say, artificial intelligence would know that in their world "birth" is a self-assembly from parts, loading the program into a ready-made being, like a soul into a body, and then the method of conception and appearance of a human being would be described to it, then for the machine all this would be as magical and miraculous as for us the formation of one world from another by particles, which even in a microscope not everyone can see. That's how it is.

Ruthra, taking advantage of the second pause, hurriedly asked a question he knew the answer to. It was his way of voicing it to the council.

– Certainly you have described everything very convincingly and interestingly, but still please tell me, can there be any real evidence for this?

– In turn, I note that you most likely believe what I have said. Otherwise, why did you invite such a beautiful creature of God to a secret meeting in a secret place, which she most likely does not even know about.

At this, Ruthra smiled.

– Well, just now you were talking about your belief in God's creatures. What's the point?

At this already the scientist smiled, continued:

– Tell me, for example, is our head of the information-analytical service fully aware of the scientific background of parallel worlds? А?

He said it in an intriguing tone, as it seemed not only to Rutra: many people who were studying the video presentation of the new project with fascination were distracted from their studies, looked up at the scientist with interest, and literally turned to listen.

It was this kind of his manner that gave interest and intrigued by the presence of meaning in his sentences, though everything was questioned until the enormity of his idea reached their comprehension.

While everyone pondered over the reality of the story, while modeling hundreds of possible probabilities, the luminary of science continued:

– Scientific! Scientific! Well, I say no. Why not? Because I don't know a single useful formula in information-analytical science. That's the whole story. And now about this scientific background. That's what I'm talking about. Of course you got that right. Yes, yes, yes, yes, I'm really defending my idea and trying to convince you to approve the project. Yes, I am. And yet…

– Wait, wait, – unexpectedly, or maybe not quite, the head of the information-analytical department, who had been holding a pen in his right hand for about 10 seconds, signaling the speaker to speak, joined the conversation. – Sorry for your "knowledge" for me, knowledge in advance, but still I can learn something from the AI database.

Knowing the manner of conversation of the "luminary of science", many people, including this master now, talked to him in the same way. It was rather a form of allusion to his comical manners than a desire to please. The scholar, realizing the meaning of the reply, hesitated. Ruthra decided to defuse the situation by entering into a dialog. He, too, had information for the council's approval, and the moment was just right for distracting him from an unnecessary, off-topic argument.

– Excuse me. Most likely, everyone has understood what we are going to talk about, and dialog further. Let's get on topic. Scientifically so scientifically. First, let me make an important announcement regarding the renaming of artificial intelligence, that is, the supercomputer. We have a new voice, a new personality. Now the soul and mind of the artificial intelligence is Madame Irene… accordingly, the supercomputer itself is now Irene, and her voice is the same as the operator's. So please do not say AI, but Irene. Madame Irene herself, of course, we can neither see nor know personally, such are the rules – and they are known to everyone. We can get acquainted with the artificial intelligence Irene and have a nice conversation with her, at the same time we can test our knowledge, and even more wonderful is that she will fulfill the first task – to solve the situation. Irene, good afternoon. Can you hear us well?

– Kind. Irene hears you, sees you and, as always, knows more about you than you do.

– Well, that's understandable – pulse, blood pressure, and thoughts that strain the space," Ruthra said, smiling, while making his favorite gesture – showing two raised fingers, index and middle, with the others bent. – Can Irene, the administrator, hear me?

– Yes, I can hear you," she said, and having already grasped the subtle differences from experience, those present realized the difference between the voices of a living person and an artificial intelligence, although they also knew that the artificial intelligence could fake it all perfectly well.

This was done more for psychological perception, namely, the differences in computer settings gave a very slight, slight difference from the original voice. This could only be determined by the members of the control board – and then only at their personal request, as this required communication sessions with both the supercomputer and the operator. This was necessary in the rarest of cases, because no one was supposed to communicate with the operator, especially on work-related topics, and only a limited number of people knew about the existence of the operator in the center.

– I hope the voice is satisfactory to everyone, and now let's check it out. Irene, what can you explain to us about the multiplicity of worlds, from the point of view of science, exactly in that paradigm of the existing dialog between a respected scientist and an equally respected head of the analytical department?

– In all probability, judging by the way of thinking and methodology of dialog, our much respected scientist wanted to show by the example of dialog with no less respected head of analytical department that in any cognition there are superficial common understandings and deep scientific definitions. Judging by this logic, he wanted, most likely, to explain the theme of scientific definition and assumption of parallel worlds. With your permission – I can voice some variants of interpretations.

– Okay. Just a moment," said Ruthra. – What's the council's opinion of our new assistant?

– She reminds me of my math teacher," she said, invited to play the role of the protagonist in the experiment the scientist was talking about.

This amused the audience a little, perhaps because the agenda itself was amusing. The servant of science had informed the council about the essence of his program in advance, and it was through the very same information-analytical department, to the head of which he had made a message as an example. The program was super-fantastic, even for the level of the Sphere system. It was fantastic not only in the possibility of consciousness transfer at a speed greater than the speed of light, and also in the proofs of existence of other intelligent worlds, not even in the fact that these worlds are parallel, mirror reflections of ours (and there are a huge number of such worlds), but in the fact that the scientist allowed a miraculous, magical transmigration of souls. He allowed the possibility of transferring consciousness from one body to another, to the one that, according to his statement in the video presentation and introductory information given as a basis for collecting advice, existed in a distant parallel world. This was clearly overkill, so there was a sense of "focus of inattention" at the council. Everyone may have been expecting a fantasy topic, but at least it was at least somewhat implied. The only reassurance, as well as proof, was the event at the last council meeting, which, however, because of its "magic" seemed suspicious and questionably real.

– I understand you. I told you (remember?), it will gradually adapt to the type of dialog you designate between yourselves. I can only advise you not to forget that this is still artificial intelligence, and certainly not to think about the constant presence of a third person in the form of a live operator. A computer can simultaneously conduct millions and billions of dialogs. Still, let's get to the subject. Irene, you're up. Go ahead.

– Thank you. Due to the pleasant motivation, in the form of an honor to be present at the management board, I will try to revive more pleasant memories of my school days than a strict mathematics teacher. If the board does not mind, I will tune in to the strictly scientific presentation of the report with a transition to the method of dialog set by a respected scientist.

– I don't think I mind. Go ahead," Ruthra said and made his usual gesture.

– In the topic started by the esteemed scientist, namely the topic of parallel universes, or worlds, the main scientific idea is the presence of a huge number of particles, animate and inanimate, connected by the most complex variants of interactions among themselves. From the inside this world can be described in countless different ways, and this does not lead to uncertainties, for the reason that it is impossible to describe the universe from the outside. Although that's not entirely true either. How can I put it… everyone lives their own life, but it can be described by someone looking at it all from the outside, yet they are unable to look at your life from the perspective of your own feelings, your gained experience, your view of events. Anyone in such a situation would be drawing a new world for your destiny; everyone you interacted with in life would describe the same event in their own way, creating a personal view. However, the true version of multiple worlds must contain truly multiple worlds, with multiple copies of each other among them, and it must all be called a multiverse. Now, passing to the statement of the respected scientist about existence of parallel worlds in his version, in his interpretation, and a possibility to be realized there, we should understand the basic postulate which gives chances to realize it. And that is quantum teleportation. Quantum teleportation is the transfer of a particle's state over a distance, with the state destroyed at the point of departure, then recreated at the point of reception. It differs from the "teleportation" popularized in science fiction. Quantum teleportation does not transfer energy or matter over distance. Quantum teleportation is the teleportation of information only, violating the laws of physics. It violates them by traveling faster than the speed of light. It is called teleportation because the state of the first particle first disappears, and then, at another time and place, the same state appears in another particle. It is experimentally proved that it is real to create a pair of photons that have quantum entanglement, even if they do not exist at the same time. That is, to the fantastic fact that such coupling works even at a great distance, time separation is also added. The interconnection of two particles is valid even after a considerable amount of time has passed. Quantum entanglement has been in effect since the birth of the universe, and maybe even before that. After all, for time the birth and death of the universe is as ordinary phenomenon as for us the change of day and night. The first realization of quantum teleportation of the polarization state of the photon was carried out in 1997. In different years, scientists have made successful experiments at different distances. In June 2017, Chinese scientists performed quantum teleportation over 1,200 kilometers, from Earth to space. These are all unclassified experiments known to everyone.

– Let me stop her," said the servant of science, waving the open palm of his right hand, for whom, and for everyone present, not counting Amita, this was far from news. – Wait, we know that. We get it. I personally approve of both voice and manners. Let me remind you that we (or rather, I) are now talking about quantum state transfer, or rather – about brain waves transformation with its help, i.e. about transferring the code of consciousness and human state, emitted by the brain, to practically infinite distances and about putting them into the brain of another living being, namely – into the same person, – said the scientist with conviction, which even the most unbelieving Thomas, if there was such a person at the council, would be interested and practically convinced in the possibility of such a fantastic phenomenon.

– We also, let me remind you, understood you and would not mind learning more detailed information about such a phenomenon. You don't think that we will just take it all on faith and approve the project, the fantasticalness of which not everyone can imagine. Let's listen to Irene, because we are listening not only for the sake of learning the very possibility of quantum teleportation. Irene, is there anything else you can tell us about the subject? I'll give you an introduction. We need it both to check you and to form a general idea of the project topic for the main participant of its practical part. As you understood, for Madame Amita.

– I understood both you and the whole idea originally. As for this topic, there is a very interesting method, which is quite suitable for testing hypothetical variants. It's called quantum suicide. Quantum suicide is a mental experiment in quantum mechanics. It is a modification of the mental experiment with Schrödinger's cat, it illustrates the difference between two interpretations of quantum mechanics: the Copenhagen interpretation and Everett's many-worlds interpretation. In fact presents an experiment with Schrödinger's cat, from the point of view of that cat. In the proposed experiment, a gun is pointed at the participant, which fires or fails to fire depending on the decay of some radioactive atom. The risk that the experiment results in the shotgun firing and the participant dying is 50%. If the Copenhagen interpretation is true, the gun will eventually go off and the participant will die. If Everett's many-worlds interpretation is true, then each experiment conducted results in the universe splitting into two universes, one in which the participant will live and one in which the participant will die. In the worlds where the participant dies, the participant ceases to exist. And from the point of view of the living participant – the experiment will continue without causing the person to disappear. This is because in any branch the participant is only able to observe the result of the experiment in the world in which he survives. If the many-worlds interpretation is correct, then the participant may observe that he or she will never die during the experiment. One variation of this mental experience goes by the name of "quantum immortality". This paradoxical experiment predicts that if the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is correct, the observer can never cease to exist at all.