Friday, December 1, 2023

Carroll has new course on Many Worlds

Physicist Sean M. Carroll announces a new course:
The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics

One universe is not enough. Learn about the Many-Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics in this exciting course taught by a renowned expert. ...

Professor Carroll explains how quantum mechanics predicts the existence of a large number of universes parallel to our own. ...

Use the concepts developed in the course so far to learn how physicist Hugh Everett arrived at a bold new approach to quantum mechanics. Called the Many-Worlds Interpretation, it holds that the wave function represents reality and evolves smoothly into multiple distinct worlds when a quantum measurement takes place. Contrast Everett’s straightforward idea with the opaque Copenhagen Interpretation. ...

Many-Worlds theorist David Deutsch helped pioneer quantum computing, which he argues is an outgrowth on the Many-Worlds Interpretation. ...

By contrast, Many-Worlds is deterministic. We can derive an understanding of probability by thinking about where we are in the quantum wave function. ...

Many-Worlds and competing theories on the foundations of quantum mechanics may seem essential for our understanding of reality, but they were long ignored by no-nonsense practicing physicists. Close the course by witnessing how the tide is turning, as it becomes increasingly clear that the foundational issues are likely the key to unlocking the outstanding mysteries of the cosmos.

This is all nonsense. There is no practical value to Many-Worlds, or to the other "competing theories" he presents. They do not even make sense has scientific theories. This course is crackpot stuff.

I have posted many times with details on why Many-worlds is nonsense. Carroll giving a course on this is like giving a course on Astrology. The students should be warned that they will not learn anything worthwhile.

His Thanksgiving post was a plug for his latest book, saying that he is thankful for quanta.

1 comment:

  1. This is actually the explanation of why Sean believes in many worlds as a solution to ...basically anything. I can't actually prove it, but I don't need to since it relies on infinite potential universes as an explanation and it can't be proven wrong since one of those alternate infinite universes is bound to be whatever shit I make up. Please remember, this happened in some other universe, in which Sean failed basic arithmetic and instead decided to become a used car salesman. In our universe this conversation DIDN'T happen, and so we get 'Sean in the multiverse part MCXIII'.

    Teacher: 'Sean, 2 + 2 does not equal 5.'

    Young Sean Carroll (extradimensional super-genius): 'Not in this universe, but in another it is actually correct.'

    Teacher: 'Sean, sweetheart... You took the test in THIS universe AND you're full of horse-pucky. You're mom and me need to have a talk about your lucrative future in American politics or used car sales.'

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