Chapter Seven

Many World Interpretation

7.1 Manifold Worlds

The manyworld interpretation is a totally different way of solving the same problem. Everett's Relative-State-Interpretation (H. Everett III: 'Relative State' Formulation of Quantum Mechanics. Rev.Mod.Phys. 29 (1957) 454.), is usually called Many-Worlds Interpretation. Here all branches of the wave function exist at all times.

According to this interpretation, instead of a superposition of states that collapse on observation, whenever numerous viable possibilities exist, the world actually splits into many worlds, one world for each different possibility.   In each of those branches one component of the wave function is realized i.e. everything is identical, except for that one different choice.   From that point on, they develop independently, and no communication is possible between them, so the people living in those worlds (and splitting along with them) may have no idea that this is going on. The observer also exists in each branch in a different state and it therefore also split. The concrete "I" awareness exists in all branches of the universe so each observer sees only that aspect of the wave function in that branch.  Everything that can happen does happen, somewhere in one of the universe. Thus Everett considers the wavefunction as a real object like any classical deterministic observable. Thus Many-world is a return to the classical, pre-quantum view of the universe in which all the mathematical certainties of the classical physical theory.

Many-worlds comprises of two assumptions and some consequences.  http://www.hedweb.com/manworld.htm

1) The Objective Reality assumption: That the wavefunction does not merely encode the all the information about an object, but has an observer-independent objective existence and actually is the object. For a non-relativistic N-particle system the wavefunction is a complex-valued field in a 3-N dimensional space.

2) The deterministicassumption: The wavefunction obeys the empirically derived standard linear deterministic wave equations at all times. The observer plays no special role in the theory and, consequently, there is no collapse of the wavefunction. 

Let me take a specific example. The problem is presented in the famous cat in a box paradox.

7.2  Schroedinger’s Cat in the Box Paradox

http://www.emr.hibu.no/lars/eng/cat/
http://www.qtc.ecs.soton.ac.uk/cat.html

" A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following diabolical device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of one hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The first atomic decay would have poisoned it. The Psi function for the entire system would express this by having in it the living and the dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts. It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing reality. In itself it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks." -- Erwin Schrödinger

If the nucleus decays the cat will die. In a quantum mechanical description this might yield a superposition of a living and a dead cat :
|y> = 2-½(|yliving> + |ydead>)
Since the cat’s property of life can have only two possible states - a living or a dead cat state.  |y> can have  either |yliving> or |ydead> if the cat is observed. Problems with this interpretation are:
1) What is the physical meaning of the Schrödinger cat state (sometimes called a state of "suspended animation")?
ii) How can a mere observation bring about the projection to either |yliving> or |ydead>? What would happen to the cat if no observation were performed at all?  Will the cat be live and dead at the same time?
The Quantum Mechanical answer is that we will never know until we make that measurement.


If we could observe the superimposed virtual states we would have had the situation of   tables and chairs being 'both here and there' and cats being 'both alive and dead' (Polkinghorne J.C. (1990) The Quantum World. London: Penguin Books.) Objects would have had no definite shape of properties. Our choices would be without definiteness and answers will be both yes and no.  That would leave us into a phantom world of non-reality without space or time.

This Experiment is parallel to the case of Salvation of Individual directly.  Suppose that the gospel is presented to a person at a particular point in time. He can make a choice of yes in which case he is saved. He can also make a choice of no in which case he is condemned during any time in his lifetime. How can we make sure that he is saved or not saved?  Until the box is opened – until the judgment when wheat and chaff are separated we will have no means of knowing. Thus the entire world is split, quite rapidly, into a host of mutually unobservable but equally real worlds. All the possible outcomes of a quantum interaction are realized. The wave function, instead of collapsing at the moment of observation, carries on evolving in a deterministic fashion, embracing all possibilities embedded within it. All outcomes exist simultaneously but do not interfere further with each other. Each branch is completely independent of the others, and no communication can take place between branches.

This experiment was probably first proposed by Jesus in his parable of the tares.

Mat 13:24  Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field;

Mat 13:25  but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.

Mat 13:26  So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.

Mat 13:27  And the servants of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?'

Mat 13:28  He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'

Mat 13:29  But he said, 'No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.

Mat 13:30  Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

In the Many World Interpretation it is explained as follows: Assuming that the chances of making them are 50-50 the universe splits into two. In one universe he is saved and in the other he is condemned. This obviously allows for the total freedom of will of man, and at the same time allows for total predestination. Since we the observer can only be in one branch we can see either the person as saved or as condemned because we cannot see the other world. But for God who sees both branches has allowed for the free will and at the same time his eternal decrees are also not violated.
 

7.3  Involvement of the Observer.- an alternative way of looking at it.- Creation through sentient involvement.

The eigenstates of the Quantum theory and the assumption that any physical system remains in a superposed state of all possibilities until it interacts with the mind of an observer can be looked upon from another perspective. As soon as an observer's mind makes contact with a superposed system, all the numerous possibilities collapse into one particular actuality.  As soon a creation of personality capable of making an observation came into existence the act of observation by this mind chooses and causes the entire superposed multiverse to collapse immediately into one of its numerous alternatives. Thus the choice of Adam decided and actually created the universe where we live in.  From then on, each individual creates and recreates the world we live in. 

If we read the Genesis story of the fall we notice that God did not determine or curse man or the cosmos.  Instead the verse reads thus:

Gen 3:6  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.

Gen 3:7  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

 

By the act of eating the fruit of the forbidden tree, they all of a sudden realized a totally different world of existence.

 

Gen 3:8  And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Gen 3:9  But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

Gen 3:10  And he said, "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

Gen 3:11  He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

 

Gen 3:12  The man said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate."

Gen 3:13  Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I ate."

Gen 3:14  The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

 

The changes that took place after the act was “because you have done this” indicating that the change was because of the act.  The same concept follows all the changes that occurred in this world.

 

Gen 3:15  I will put enmity between you and the woman,  and between your seed and her seed;  he shall bruise your head,  and you shall bruise his heel."

Gen 3:16  To the woman he said,  "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing;  in pain you shall bring forth  children,  yet your desire shall be for your  husband,  and he shall rule over you."

 

Only the pain in the childbearing is given by God.

 

Gen 3:17  And to Adam he said,  "Because you have listened to the  voice of your wife,  and have eaten of the tree  of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,'  cursed is the ground because of you;  in toil you shall eat of it all the  days of your life;

Gen 3:18  thorns and thistles it shall bring  forth to you;  and you shall eat the plants of the  field.

Gen 3:19  In the sweat of your face  you shall eat bread  till you return to the ground,  for out of it you were taken;  you are dust,  and to dust you shall return."

 Now the sentient being who collapsed the superposition determined the actualization of the laws of physics.  Can we go back on this choice. No. Instead it has to be redirected to a redeemed state by another choice in the time development of the state. God provides the options in vast profusion. We make the choices. Yes, all that ever was, ever will be, ever could have been, and ever might still be - are included within God. Their actualization as experiences depends upon the choices made by sentient beings.

"So man is priest of the creation through his power to give thanks and to offer the creation back to God; and he is king of creation through his power to mould and fashion, to connect and diversify."
Bishop Kallistos Ware, THE ORTHODOX WAY

Paul makes this idea clear in his thesis on the redemption of the whole creation.

Rom 8:21  because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Rom 8:22  We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now;

Rom 8:23  and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Rom 8:24  For in this hope we were saved. 

 

The principle of incarnation itself is to be looked upon on this ground.   The presence of Jesus in human form becomes absolutely essential for the redemption of creation, since it is the sentients that creates the cosmos of their existence and only my changing the conduct and thought pattern of these sentients the recreation can take place.

7.4  Immortality, Resurrection, Continuity of life

James Higgo points out that MWI may really imply the immortality of Souls by using the Quantum Suicide experiment as given by Tegmark:

In this suicide experiment we have a gun, which has a chance of firing 50 percent of the time its trigger is pulled.  If it does not trigger the bullet it will only make a click sound.  Now suppose this gun is placed on the forehead of the experimenter and he continue to pull the trigger.  If the Many World Interpretation is correct she will hear only audible clicks and not one single fire. This is because she will not be there in the alternate world where she had died.  Others in 50% of the worlds will notice that he died.  But for him he still lives.  The moral: One cannot commit suicide at all.  This is true not only of suicides but for every form of death. You are immortal.  You will never die. 

But the interpretation should not stop there.  Life is eternal and will go on. But your choices make a difference in the quality of your eternal life.  If you make bad choices you will bring upon yourself immense suffering along with all the rest of the cosmos This will bring about a separation of the wheat and the chaff.  One group goes from bad to worse and others from good to better. There are others who can turn around one group to another.  The large number of worlds allows for it all.  If you continue to choose wrongly it will lead to more and more decay and suffering.  This is hell indeed. If you choose wisely and continue to choose wisely you will live eternally in heaven with others who did the right choices.

Mat 13:28  He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'

Mat 13:29  But he said, 'No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.

Mat 13:30  Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

 

Heb 6:12  so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Mat 13:43  Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

Heaven and Hell depend on our choice.  Choose wisely, Choose this day.

Mat 25:46  And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Joh 5:24  Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Rom 2:7  to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;
Rom 5:21  so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom 6:22  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Deu 30:19  I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.

 

Even though a person may not be aware of it, we are judging ourselves every time.  There may be a white throne judgement at critical junctures of transformations.  But the continuous judging take place every day .

Joh 3:18  He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

 

In this concept immortality of the soul is a continuation of the living and not reincarnation. The person is not really aware of any transition into the worlds or of transformation.  The person continues in the same body, and if at all anything is changed in the body it is resurrection of the same body. The body may have transformed from one dimension into another.  But the same person lives on.  Even if there is a gap in the awareness (that is even if the person died), it will not be perceived by the person.  A soul sleep is perfectly permissible.  The person is dead as far as the alternate world is concerned.  But the person lives on in another world with the same type of  body probably with the characteristics of the matter of that world and is not aware of any time lag. A resurrection of the body is also perfectly in accordance with the MWI.  Thus while it negates all forms of reincarnation it supports resurrection. 

 

Mat 22:32  'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living."

Joh 5:28  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice

Joh 5:29  and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.

The salvation process is not in the continuity of life, but in the quality of life.  Thus in the declaration of the purpose of incarnation Jesus says.

Joh 10:10  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

 

It is possible for the person to have a time gap with continuity of life without any memory of such a gap.  This would mean that it is possible for people to die and resurrect and live at the point in their life where they left out in a transformed resurrected body in another world.   While this totally negates reincarnation it supports the existence of ages after ages.  Every point in the age ends up with a judgment and transference into another world.  The rewards and punishments are an ongoing process and not necessarily a sharp defined judgment although such intermittent judgment can take place.

Reference: Does the 'many-worlds' interpretation imply immortality? http://www.higgo.com/quantum/qti.htm

Evangelical Interpretation of Many Worlds

Hell – the self centered isolation among a throng of individuals or Heaven – a loving community.  These are the only two choices.  The choice of annihilation is not there, for we are eternal beings
There are two ways of life, you choose - it's your choice!

1 Peter 1:3-5 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

Matthew 7:13-16  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
 

A Kaballistic Interpretation of Many Worlds

The Kabala is an ancient Hebrew mystical system of thought. It is a symbolic representation of the path taken by every human being in their journey to eternity. It is usually represented by a tree with interconnecting branches.  At the top of it is the Kether – the crown - to which man can attain and partake of the divinity of Ain Sof – the unknown God beyond.  There are left branches and right branches.  You can wander off and get lost in the outer darkness probably never to return and reach the Kether.  But there are an infinitely paths, if one can retrace the state and interweave from the bottom to top.  As we take our decisions we branch off into one branch to another.  With a clear mind and direction of motion it is easier to climb directly to the top.  Without direction one can be totally lost in the outer end.  Life never ends.  But we can be lost for ever. In a simplified model we have ten sefiroth and 32 pathways to reach the top.

Many-Minds Interpretation
The Many Minds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics", by Michael Lockwood, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 1996, Vol. 47, No. 2.
http://www.poco.phy.cam.ac.uk/~mjd1014/summary.html

Many-minds interpretation proposes, that an infinity of separate minds or mental states be associated with each single brain state. When the single physical brain state is split into a quantum superposition by a measurement   the associated infinity of minds are thought of as differentiating rather than splitting.

In Everett's many-worlds theory, each ``world'' was a way in which an ``observer'' could be correlated with the rest of the universe, but Everett did not analyse the nature of observers. Here the ``observer'' is taken to be something which has a ``mind'', and different possibilities correspond to different experiences of individual observers.  For each observer, life is like a game of chance in which at any moment, a finite range of possibilities can occur; each possibility having its own associated probability. It is essential that these choices are finite. It means that the universe is essentially digital in structure and continuous.  It need not necessary to be an yes or no choice i.e. a two path choice. The state of mind of the person is defined by the path taken by the mind to reach this point which includes all experiences. This makes sure that the mind state is actually an entangled state with all the universe of experience it went through. The mind may be thought of as having multiple layers.   When this state get entangled with a different state vector – the external world, together they produced an entangled state vector.  It is this that produce the multiverse.  It can be compared to statistical stochastic process studies like the one below

The state then depends on the path.  Having come across a choice situation the experience produce a probability of selection based on the past experience.

 According to the proposed theory, the time which appears to pass as we live, is not some absolute observer-independent time, but rather is an aspect of our structure as individual observers. Although our manifestations are in spacetime, our consciousness is not. The patterns of information by which we are characterized are geometrical patterns, but the geometry is abstract. The stochastic processes of which we are conscious are processes with their own time. The arrow of time is the arrow of these processes.  Time is thus defined only in terms of cause effect relationship to define a sequence.

This proposition is very much like the Jewish multisoul concept. The Egyptian, the Greek, and the Chinese and the Kabbalists  conceive  man as a multiplicity of spiritual principles, which separate after death and each go their own way, rather than as a single "soul" or "spirit".   

The Kabalistic traditions gives various layers of human consciousness with different dimensional attributes.  They number of soul parts vary with the traditions. They exist at various dimensions of existence.  Some of these are: Nefesh - the lower part, or animal part, of the soul. 
Ruach – part which has the moral virtues and the ability to distinguish between good and evil. 
Neshamah - the higher soul, or super-soul separates man from all other life forms with its consciousness of God.   
Chayyah - The part of the soul that allows one to have an awareness of the divine life force itself;
Yehidad - the highest plane of the soul, in which one can achieve as full a union with God as is possible. 
Ruach HaKodesh - a state of the soul that makes prophecy possible. 
Neshamah Yeseira - The supplemental soul that a Jew experiences on Shabbat.   Neshoma Kedosha,  related to the study and fulfillment of the Torah commandments.

Evidently not all these souls are in all men.  But all these are acquirable depending on the experience they go through.  It is more like the process of Sanctification.

We have a picture of these in the Seven Spirits of God, which actually is one Spirit with seven layers.

In the Jewish mystic teaching on death these parts distribute themselves in various universes. While one goes to purgatory to be purified, the other spirit goes to heaven, and some even return to earth. Again Kabala does not speak of these happening at the time of death, because for them life is a continuous process and body is not considered important at all. Sleep time between such occurrences is permissible because time is considered as only a sequence of cause effect events.  These concepts are taught only in some mystical traditions and should not be considered as a general theology of the Jewish religion.