Can anyone give me an explanation Max TegMark’s (1997) “Quantum Suicide Experiment,” and its implications? I mean, in language that a non-physicist might be able to comprehend.
So far, my understanding of it, probably profoundy wrong, is that, basically, every possibility for one’s life that one can imagine is happening, constantly, all at the same time. So, if one commits suicide, it is only in that particular world in which one commits suicide. In other worlds, one continues to live out whatever one’s life is in that world. The results of suicide are only sadness and suffering for the survivors in the world in which one committed the act.
I’ve done some searching on the web about this, but the langauge is so esoteric to me that I’m not sure what to think.
Thanks!
If I’m reading you right, then your understanding is basically correct. Tegmark’s quantum-suicide “experiment” is posed in the context of the so-called “many-worlds” interpretation of quantum mechanics, but note that there are many people who accept that interpretation, but disagree with Tegmark’s view on its implications for subjective experience of death.
You can find more information in the Wikipedia here. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has an entry on the Many Worlds interpretation which is unfortunately somewhat technical, but which seems to me to do a reasonable job describing the idea accurately but with relatively little cheerleading.
A completely unbiased description of this interpretation is difficult to find, in my experience, because most people who fully understand the interpretation also agree with it. Most physicists regard such interpretational issues as being of little importance, however, so it is hard to say how much professional support the idea really enjoys.