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Forums  ForumsReference Desk → Quantum reality structure (replywatch)
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I do have a problem considering the TNG episode "Parallels". When Data is explaining the concept of quantum realities to Riker, he uses a computer simulation showing that quantum realities actually pop/split up in an infinite process. This means that there is no free will because people do not have a really decision to make as the universe automatically splits up and every possibility becomes reality. However, he also states that every reality has its own quantum signature that cannot be changed and always remains the same. But if realities split up in a continuing process, everyone of them would have the same quantum signature, wouldn't they? Today I had to decide between coffee and tea for breakfast. My reality with its quantum signature splits up into several new realities, one where I drink coffee, one where I drink tea and so on. Those new realities would either have the same signature or would have changed it meaning that the new reality where I drink coffee had a different signature before this decision than it has now. Due to Data signatures, however, cannot be changed and always remain the same. In my opinion quantum signatures lead to a different explanation: realities do not split up, new realities do not come into existence. When the Big Bang happened, an infinite number of different quantum realities came into existence. And due to the fact that it wasn't just 5,000 trillion but an infinite number of them, mathematically everything that can happen does happen somewhere. There is an infinite number of realities that are exactly like ours with their very own signature, and universes that do have slight or more important differences. This would conform to the quantum signature and not contradict a free will at all. It would not even contradict Data's words if you examine them carefully but it contradicts the graphic we see on the screen (also shown in this article) and the real-life theory of quantum realities. What do you think? -- AniWX 08:09, April 30, 2011 (UTC)

I understood it in the way that they don't actually "split up" in the graphic, but that certain realities were simply overlayed in the graphic based on their identical history up to the point of divergence. --Pseudohuman 09:02, April 30, 2011 (UTC)
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