The Emergent Multiverse - The Many-Worlds Interpretation

Professor David Wallace delivers two talks on the Many-Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics. In the first lecture, he examines the justification for interpreting the superposition states as multiplicities, and in the second lecture, he asks how we make sense of probability in the Many-Worlds theory.

The Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics holds that quantum theory - our best current theory of physics - is correctly understood as claiming that there are many worlds that exist in parallel to our own and which branch constantly off our own. The existence of the other worlds makes it possible to make sense of physics without action-at-a-distance, objective randomness, or any strange role for an "observer" or "consciousness". During this weekend school, this interpretation of quantum mechanics is discussed and it is asked what would follow from its being the correct one.

These talks were given in 2014 as part of a series at Oxford.

00:00 The Plurality of Worlds
53:30 The Probability Puzzle

#Philosophy #Science