Why Earth's History Appears So Miraculous
March 27, 2018 3:15 PM Subscribe
"If we can only ever wake up on rare and seemingly miraculous worlds—and it’s a big enough universe—we shouldn’t be surprised to find our past filled with miracles."Peter Brannen writes about observer selection, our "anthropic shadow" and much more.
This all-time classic single-panel cartoon is perfectly fitting.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:46 PM on March 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:46 PM on March 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Presumably, the point is made that if the “miracles” hadn’t occurred, we wouldn’t be here to comment on how miraculous it is.
Yeah, it starts out explaining the anthropic principle (albeit with a neat anecdote I hadn't heard before about armoring planes), but delves a little deeper into how that principle might be blinding us to risks we should be able to control, but discount because they've never happened before.
Interesting enough.
posted by Ickster at 5:50 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yeah, it starts out explaining the anthropic principle (albeit with a neat anecdote I hadn't heard before about armoring planes), but delves a little deeper into how that principle might be blinding us to risks we should be able to control, but discount because they've never happened before.
Interesting enough.
posted by Ickster at 5:50 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
The real miracle would be if life existed on a planet that wasn't able to support it. Then I would be all like shee-it there must some gods around here, but the whole goldilocks thing? Pshh, not even.
posted by signal at 6:04 PM on March 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by signal at 6:04 PM on March 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
The easiest way to convince yourself that this idea is real, is to throw rig up a doomsday device to blow up the world with a 99.99999999% probability. Any universe in which humans are still alive will be nearly completely sure that they only exist due to this sort of quantum miracle.
Of course if there's only one universe, then we'll almost certainly just be dead.
posted by BungaDunga at 7:30 PM on March 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Of course if there's only one universe, then we'll almost certainly just be dead.
posted by BungaDunga at 7:30 PM on March 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
This article introduced the truly weird implications of Quantum theory, quantum immortality.
posted by herda05 at 7:33 PM on March 27, 2018
posted by herda05 at 7:33 PM on March 27, 2018
Nah, because Boltzmann brains.
I remember reading a Fritz Leiber short story that was a quantum hell. I'm torn between wanting to know what its title was, and very much not wanting to read it again.
posted by joeyh at 8:03 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
I remember reading a Fritz Leiber short story that was a quantum hell. I'm torn between wanting to know what its title was, and very much not wanting to read it again.
posted by joeyh at 8:03 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
"It was a Vulcan calculation that a culture's lifespan was either some fifty years after basic fission was discovered, or else indefinite."
— John M. Ford, Star Trek: The Final Reflection
Fascinating article from start to finish. Unless I'm misreading, there's something of the normalcy bias in this: the universe has never ended before, so why should it do so now? Except that maybe it has ended before and mere moments ago.
I sometimes wonder about all the many-worlds bryons who made other choices (right rather than left, yes rather than no) or who were a little luckier, or unluckier, than myself. What are their lives like? How stable are their universes (now that I know that's a thing to consider)? Have any of them read this article, and will they be contemplating vacuum decay as they try to go to sleep?
posted by bryon at 2:22 AM on March 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
— John M. Ford, Star Trek: The Final Reflection
Fascinating article from start to finish. Unless I'm misreading, there's something of the normalcy bias in this: the universe has never ended before, so why should it do so now? Except that maybe it has ended before and mere moments ago.
I sometimes wonder about all the many-worlds bryons who made other choices (right rather than left, yes rather than no) or who were a little luckier, or unluckier, than myself. What are their lives like? How stable are their universes (now that I know that's a thing to consider)? Have any of them read this article, and will they be contemplating vacuum decay as they try to go to sleep?
posted by bryon at 2:22 AM on March 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
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Presumably, the point is made that if the “miracles” hadn’t occurred, we wouldn’t be here to comment on how miraculous it is.
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:29 PM on March 27, 2018 [3 favorites]