Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

>What I find somewhat counter intuitive is that, the more particles there are, the less our chances are that another version of us exist, I would have said it makes the chances bigger

Think of it like this:

If a human ("Joe") was just one particle, then the chances of the same human being recreated elsewhere would be 100%. As long as that particle is present, there's Joe.

If Joe was made of 100 particles, then the chances are less, because those 100 particles would have to be aligned/interact in the same way, which is much less probable.

Or maybe think of it like this: if you throw a dice, to get 6 is quite easy. You have 1 in 6 chances.

But if you throw 10 dice to get them all six is very very improbable (1/61/61/6*...).

Think of the particles like dice.



Yes, the more particles Joe has, the less it is likely that it will be recreated elsewhere. But here I'm talking about particles not being Joe, the rest of the universe.

I see it this way, it doesn't matter that I get 10 times a 6 when throwing a dice, I just want a 6, I'm not concerned about the whole process, just about the result. Aren't there many ways to get to a point where particles assemble to form a brain similar to our own?

Also, is it possible to ignore the vast majority of the universe, because is a dim light from a star so important, or do we have to, because of the butterfly effect?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: