In the multiple universe, infinite universe situation, in terms of probability, does this many that anything that is possible, no matter how improbable, will eventually happen. For example, is there somewhere, an exact copy of the earth, down to the milimeter, but where all the men look like adolph hitler and all the women look like marilyn monroe, but they are all born looking that way by random chance alone.
Sure, all you need is a really hot cup of tea.
Yes, silly isn’t t?
my brain really can’t comprehend such an idea…
yes, but only for sufficiently large values of “infinite”.
Who says the universe (or the multiple universe) is infinite?
Who says?
Absolutely no way to guarantee this.
i’m repeating tings that are now in popular culture… science shows and blogs
This, we may recall, is the foundational axiom of the Howard The Duck stories.
I am not a physicist. However, note that the number of real numbers between zero and one are infinite. As are the number of real numbers between zero and two. As are the number of real numbers from negative infinity to positive infinity.
But some infinities are apparently larger than others. I have not studied the underlying mathematics of this notion, but I understand that scholars have given the matter some thought.
Extrapolating from all of that, I could imagine there being infinite planets but really only one version of Earth with this message board. To take a trivial example.
You have to let your mind accept the concept of ‘infinite’ gradually. First, imagine there are two ‘earths’ where SDMB exists, then, 100, then 1000, then 1000000, then, too many to count. One of those message boards is different from this one only in the sense that the letter ‘@’ has replaced the letter ‘z’. Another, that the full stop is never used, just a triple space Then the next sentence starts See? Except that SDMB here anticipated that particular universe and uses software that edits out extra spaces.
If it’s true that an infinite universe must produce a world where everyone looks like Marilyn Monroe, then in fact that universe must produce an infinite number of identical worlds in which everyone looks like Marilyn Monroe - because why would it stop at only one?
Your question depends upon whether the Many Worlds or the Copenhagen Interpretation is correct. We don’t know.
http://www.askamathematician.com/2010/10/q-copenhagen-or-many-worlds/
wow
The answer that will satisfy no one is that there will be such a planet as envisioned in the OP with probability 1. Which, given the vagaries of infinity, does not mean it will happen, only that it is overwhelmingly likely. Also the probability that it will happen infinitely often is also 1. Extrapolating from your finite intuition to what happens at infinity is always fraught.
Three decades ago, a young physicist–now one of the grand old men of physics–wrote a book in which he extrapolated from finite universes to infinite ones to make a fatuous claim that Newton had erred. He was utterly wrong.
I’ve heard this argument time and again. I understand it’s axioms and arguments, but I just don’t buy that an infinite universe must produce randomly iterative yet identical copies of astoundingly complex systems and events—down to the atomic structure.
It could be that abiogenesis of life was a one-time fluke, and there goes the whole conjecture.
It all comes down to Badgers.
It’s possible, but it would be extraordinary to find only one of anything, within an infinite set. (Of course, you could never be sure there was only one, because you’d never finish searching).
While it’s true that there are different sizes of infinity, you only need the smallest one for this premise. The probability of a world full of Marilyn Monroes is incredibly small, and incredibly complicated to calculate… but it’s still finite. If the Universe is truly infinite, it would require divine intervention for there not to be an infinite number of such worlds.
It still has to be a reachable state. It’s entirely possible (and more or less not computable) that the state in which everyone looks like Marilyn Monroe and Hitler relies on one or several fundamental physical impossibilities. Subtle things like “for this state to be reachable two hydrogen atoms need to occupy the same spot at 8:30 PM on June 12, 13 BCE in the Andromeda galaxy”.
How do we know that the universe beyond what we can see isn’t just an endless void?