[asa] Study claims that Parallel Universes really do exist.

This seems to have come up in the last week, originally reported, I believe
in New Scientist.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=paUniverse_sun14_parallel_universes&show_article=1&cat=0

The punch-line is:

The Oxford team, led by Dr David Deutsch, showed mathematically that the
bush-like branching structure created by the universe splitting into
parallel versions of itself can explain the probabilistic nature of quantum
outcomes.

Does anyone know anything about this? Is it really anything new (one expert
commenting in New Scientist) says it will go down as one of the most
important discoveries in the history of science. In the absence of details,
it's hard to tell whether or not this is just journalist hype.

  It seems to me that showing mathematically that the branching structure of
the universe can explain the probabilistic nature of quantum outcomes is NOT
the same as proving that the parallel universes exist, and falls foul of the
same fallacy as the Design argument - because we know that Designers can
explain intricate mechanisms from watches is not the same thing as saying
that the existence of apparent design implies the existence of the Designer.

In order to show that the parallel universes really exist, one would have to
find independent predictions from the theory, that differ from, say
Copenhagen, which can be tested against.

It is of great interest that a forthcoming Christians In Science meeting in
Oxford on October 15th is on multiverses.

Iain

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After the game, the King and the pawn go back in the same box.
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