Quantum suicide

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The quantum suicide is a thought experiment , with the Austrian scientist Hans Moravec in 1987 and regardless of Bruno Marchal in 1988 to the many-worlds interpretation of the Schrödinger equation in the field of quantum mechanics were received. In 1998 the experiment was further developed by Max Tegmark .

Procedure and consequences

The experiment is similar to that of Schrödinger's cat . A scientist sits in front of a gun that is fired when a special radioactive atom has decayed . In this case the scientist dies.

According to the many-worlds interpretation , in different parallel universes the firing will take place at a different time, so that the possibility that the scientist will survive the experiment because the atom does not disintegrate is fulfilled more often than that of his death. Considered in the totality of the systems, the scientist does not die as a result of the experiment, since the probability of survival is never zero and he therefore always survives in any universe. Viewed in this way, the scientist is immortal, which is why the experiment is sometimes referred to as quantum immortality .

criticism

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The experiment was criticized for the fact that the many-worlds theory does not necessarily have to be used for interpretation. Likewise, the experiment could also take place within a world with an unlimited number of identical test subjects and the experiment being carried out. The quantum effects play no role in the life expectancy of the scientist.

From the point of view of the Copenhagen interpretation , it was criticized that with such low probabilities a collapse of the wave function and thus the end is more likely than an endless survival of the experiment.

Tegmark himself emphasized that the possible death through the experiment does not set in selectively, but is accompanied by a reduction in consciousness and thus the ability to perceive.

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