9.06.2007

Some more words on possible worlds

I just checked a triablogue entry on possible worlds and I must say that my views are not resembling the possible worlds they picture there. For instance they talk of a Moses for each possible world and a Jesus for each possible world. I dont believe that. I believe that each universe has their own particular things. Some may not even have any matter in them because of different physical constants. And the other if they have things at all, they cant be humans, because humans are a thing of this universe only. If they have sentient beings that look very much like humans, they will still be the same humans with this universe, even if they call themselves "humans" there. And I dont believe that there is a replica of each of us in other universes.

This kind of view expressed in there is just making a replica of this world, like the other worlds are just off-shoots of this world. this is not what I believe. I believe in totally seperate universes, that have no connection to one another. Different spacetimes. And the things in them aren't the same things, for instance saying "in one of the possible worlds Jesus was resurrected" makes no sense to me. Because there is only one Jesus and he lived here.

3 comments:

Peter Pike said...

Mike said:
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For instance they talk of a Moses for each possible world and a Jesus for each possible world.
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I don't see how you came to that conclusion given:
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In reality, since there would be universes where this did occur, and since there would also be universes where this did not occur yet where it is claimed that it did occur, then the epistemological question rears its head: how do we know which type of universe we are in?
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You are confused if you think that something occuring in an infinite number of universe means it occurs in "each possible" universe. Think of it this way: There are an infinite number of odd numbers, but that doesn't mean each possible number is odd.

You said:
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And the other if they have things at all, they cant be humans, because humans are a thing of this universe only.
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I hope you realize that this definition puts humanity outside the realm of materialism. That is, "human" includes something other than just a specific arrangement of matter.

You said:
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I believe in totally seperate universes, that have no connection to one another. Different spacetimes.
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That's what was being referred to in the post too.

You said:
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And the things in them aren't the same things, for instance saying "in one of the possible worlds Jesus was resurrected" makes no sense to me. Because there is only one Jesus and he lived here.
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Again, you need to read what was written:
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Further, there are an infinite number of universes where someone named Jesus was crucified and rose again on the third day (emphasis added).
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This isn't saying the identical person is in both universes; merely that what is said about Jesus in one universe did, in fact, occur in a universe somewhere at sometime. In short, if something is possible, then it has been actualized in one of the many infinite universes that would exist (under this theory).

The fact that this theory undermines epistemology is why I do not accept it as valid. In destroying epistemology, it has no "explanatory" value and as such cannot be used as "proof" for anything.

Rhology said...

Mike,

You said:
For instance they talk of a Moses for each possible world and a Jesus for each possible world. I dont believe that.

It looks like you're confusing this with the idea that there would be an infinite # of universes where someone named Moses existed and someone named Jesus existed. And to really blow your mind, there would be an infinite # of universes where a guy named Jesus was crucified. And where a guy named Jesus was disintegrated by a ray gun from the year 3045 AD held by a time-traveler. An infinite #! Talk about failure to explain anythg rationally!

steve said...

Mike,

At the moment I'm pretty busy, but I may get around to commenting next week. However, I don't have time for an open-ended debate. I have other prior commitments.