The Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI) is an approach to quantum mechanics according to which, in addition to the world we are aware of directly, there are many other similar worlds which exist in parallel at the same space and time. The existence of the other worlds makes it possible to remove randomness and action at a distance from quantum theory and thus from all physics.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-manyworlds/#Eve57

I was wondering if this is so then couldn't there be an infinite outcomes to every situation or for every atom?

It seems that if infinite outcomes were the case, couldn't one of outcomes be no outcome at all, and hence voiding the theory altogether?

Once again, I'm not trying to enlighten; I'm trying to become enlightened. Please don't write me off as an ass.

I was wondering if this is so then couldn't there be an infinite outcomes to every situation or for every atom?
I think so

It seems that if infinite outcomes were the case, couldn't one of outcomes be no outcome at all, and hence voiding the theory altogether?
How can an outcome not be an outcome?

I think so


How can an outcome not be an outcome?

Well, wouldn't that be an outcome? Having no outcome is still having an outcome. Just as nothing is something.

No, that's a logical contradiction.

Nothing is not something, by definition.
No outcome is not an outcome, by definition.

That's what the words mean.

But, perhaps the concept you have in mind when you say "no outcome" is actually an outcome...

What exactly do you mean by "no outcome"?

No, that's a logical contradiction.

Nothing is not something, by definition.
No outcome is not an outcome, by definition.

That's what the words mean.

But, perhaps the concept you have in mind when you say "no outcome" is actually an outcome...

What exactly do you mean by "no outcome"?


I mean that no outcome is when nothing happens and time, I guess, just stops. Which is still outcome in my opinion. I guess it's a little twisted, but an outcome where nothing happens or no outcome, is still an outcome of nothing happening.

I see.

A far as I am aware, the outcome that time stops is not one of the infinite possible outcomes of quantum mechanics.

But let's imagine that it was...
Why would that void the idea?
What affect would that null outcome have on all the other outcomes?

I see.

A far as I am aware, the outcome that time stops is not one of the infinite possible outcomes of quantum mechanics.

But let's imagine that it was...
Why would that void the idea?
What affect would that null outcome have on all the other outcomes?

No further outcomes would occur within that null outcome.

It is very possible to have infinite outcomes without having every possible outcome that can be imagined. For instance, your idea of "no outcome" simply isn't a possible result. When I imagine the multiple world interpretation I like to imagine it from a single particle's perspective, then you don't run into problems of "what if the universe stopped?"

-AntonK

No further outcomes would occur within that null outcome.

But it wouldn't affect any outcomes parallel to that null outcome, right? That's what the many worlds interpretation is all about, after all.

But it wouldn't affect any outcomes parallel to that null outcome, right? That's what the many worlds interpretation is all about, after all.

Yeah, you're right; it wouldn't affect the other outcomes. What if it did though? Imagine an atom on your body just disappearing one day from existence; would it affect the atoms that surrounded it?

Now I've got what you mean...
The easy answer is that the complete disappearance of a particle is not a possible outcome of quantum mechanics. In all outcomes, mass/energy is conserved.