Do you believe in a multiverse?

The idea of multiverses in intersting, but not really an idea that can be verified or falsified at this time. At this time I think almost all viewpoints on the matter are wild speculation, fun, but still speculation. I will just leave this in the "don't know" column, which means it may be possible, but not likely without some sort of evidence.

The many world hypothesis is conjecture, again there is no real evidence for or against it. As for the bullet scenario, that doesn't mean there are muliple universes. Just because someone doesn't have the gun go off, statiscally it is still normal. For example, every week millions buy lotto tickets. Almost no one wins, which is normal. However, one or several individuals do win, which is normal as well. Likewise, 99 people shooting themselves, and one with a dud, falls within normal probablities (though gun failure is usually much much lower than that, but its just an example.) Interpretation of these staticics as good, bad, lucky, unlucky is placing human emotional attachments to raw probabilities. It doesn't mean there are millions of universes where every one who bought a ticket is a winner somewhere.BTW: multiple universes doesn't mean parrellel universes either, so even if a "multi-verse" does exist, it doesn't neccisarly follow that they are parrellel, or even similar in nature.[This message has been edited by Darwin Storm, 03-28-2004]

1.) It may be possible to test multiple-universe hypothesis in the future, but not at the current moment. There are so many possibbilities in theories, how would you list them, let alone distinguish them. What happens if there are infinite universes, but no two are alike in what we take to be universal constants? What if there are only 3 universes? What if there are parrellel universes, how do w know they are infinite, and not just two. Additionally quantum mechanics could be just as easily solved by other models, which may fit the evidence just as well and with a simplier model. My point was, that scientifically, at this time, any hypothesis that involve more than one universe are , well, hypothesis, with little or no evidential backing at the moment. That isn't to say that can't change, and we shouldn't investigate them as possible, but to simply believe in them because we like the idea isn't science, its belief.2.) I have to say that your gun theory is amusing. If I pulled the trigger 10,000 times without a shot being fired, I wouldn't assume some wierd cause, I would check to see if the gun was working. Again, you are making a arguement based on conjecture, and what-if, not based on the evidence. That isn't to say that there isn't evidence to be found, we simply haven't discovered any yet.
Additionaly, probablities don't require infinite realities to exist in order to have near infinite probabilities exist. For example, the odds are 1 to a few thousand that you will dies of a car crash, however that doesn't mean that there are 10,000 of you in existance, and in one reality, you die in a car crash. You may believe this is so, but again, at this point, it is simply personal belief.3.) Again, just because the concept of infinite universes exists, doesnt mean the universes themselves do. It may possible to show there may be more than one universe, but it doesnt follow that there would be infinite universes. Again, without evidence and observation to back any of this, it is conjecture.

I like our conversation and will respond later today, but I have to dash to my college classes right now.

I think we can agree on the same premises. As for the disagreements, I would like to qualify a bit. I don't neccisarily thin MWI is one of a million equal possillitibies. It is one interpretation of several that currently has the public imagination of physicts. However, that being said, it does what any conjecture does, seems to solve some problems while bringing up a slews of others. The main support I have seen for it is more based on philosophical considerations and not on evidential support. There are numerous complex assumptions that also must be made, many of which are axioms without logical support. That being said, this is an area of physics that still has a long way to develope. Such ideas as MWI can be usefull tools, either succedded, failing, or raising other questions. However, public like of the theory is not the same as scietific support. As such, I don't think it should be taken too seriously until more evidence or testable conseqeunces are devised.
I will also say that the quantum suicide experiment isn't an experiment at all, and is more of a philosophical question. Normal experience seems to contradict the idea. You can win the lotto twice ( it has been done), but that doesnt mean there are millions of universes that are also generated without you winning both, or either. You could make the same experiment where you toss a penny 10,000 times in a row. According to the logic, if you did get a 10,000 heads in a row, than MWI would be proven. However, that probabilty is still an acceptable outcome for normal probability, and can't be distinguished between probablility, and a "seperate" universe. All things being equal, the probablility idea is a simpler model and the one we would use, unless there is other, strong evidence that we should use a MWI model.

The one gaping fault with this experiement is that if multiple unverises are created with each trigger pull, than multiple copies of that person are generated as well. Perceptually, each copy would not know abou the existance of the other. If the gun didn't fire, even after 10 trigger pulls, you still would be unable to disguish between a single universe where your odds of surviving where low, and a MWI model where there was guarenteed to be one universe where you did survive. Therefor this experiment wouldn't be able to confirm or deny the MWI model. The assumptions made by that article are terrible from a acutal experimetnal viewpoint. The experiment would verify nothing. However, the odds, in either model, is that you will expereince death. Even in MWI, most of the versions of you get shot, and since they don't all share consiousness, you may well be the alternate universe where you are simply dead.