Sean Carroll

And it might very well be the case that the kind of calculation you've done tells you that you will, you know, factor a large number with really, really high accuracy, 99% confidence or something like that. And so in the traditional single-world interpretation, you would say there's a chance I get the right answer, there's a chance I get the wrong answer.

And it might very well be the case that the kind of calculation you've done tells you that you will, you know, factor a large number with really, really high accuracy, 99% confidence or something like that. And so in the traditional single-world interpretation, you would say there's a chance I get the right answer, there's a chance I get the wrong answer.

In Everett, you would say there's a world in where I get the right answer and a world in which I get the wrong answer. And of course, to make sense of it, you have to believe that the Born Rule still works. So if most of the amplitude is on the right answer, then you interpret that as saying that the probability of me getting the right answer is given by the amplitude squared.

In Everett, you would say there's a world in where I get the right answer and a world in which I get the wrong answer. And of course, to make sense of it, you have to believe that the Born Rule still works. So if most of the amplitude is on the right answer, then you interpret that as saying that the probability of me getting the right answer is given by the amplitude squared.

So again, I don't think that Everettian attitude towards quantum mechanics says much or is much informed by the success or workings of quantum computers. Nanu says, I recently had the pleasure to read your paper, Reality as a Vector in Hilbert Space, and truly enjoyed it. I read it over and over again.

So again, I don't think that Everettian attitude towards quantum mechanics says much or is much informed by the success or workings of quantum computers. Nanu says, I recently had the pleasure to read your paper, Reality as a Vector in Hilbert Space, and truly enjoyed it. I read it over and over again.

I was wondering what was going through your head when you realized that reality is a vector in Hilbert space. You know, I don't – I feel bad sometimes because people ask me questions just like we had the question just a second ago about like what philosopher or what idea helps you through this.

I was wondering what was going through your head when you realized that reality is a vector in Hilbert space. You know, I don't – I feel bad sometimes because people ask me questions just like we had the question just a second ago about like what philosopher or what idea helps you through this.

I think I just think differently than other people do maybe or at least I think differently than other people want me to think. Because there seems to be this feeling like that there should be epiphanies and moments. You go like, this is the moment I realized something. Or I read this book and this book helped me realize something.

I think I just think differently than other people do maybe or at least I think differently than other people want me to think. Because there seems to be this feeling like that there should be epiphanies and moments. You go like, this is the moment I realized something. Or I read this book and this book helped me realize something.

Or this person is very brilliant and I would, you know, here's the list of people I would like to talk to who are dead. But I really like to talk to them because they're brilliant people. I just don't think that way, honestly. Like it's much more gradual and process-oriented in my head. There was not a moment when I realized that reality is a vector in Hilbert space. It kind of creeps up on you.

Or this person is very brilliant and I would, you know, here's the list of people I would like to talk to who are dead. But I really like to talk to them because they're brilliant people. I just don't think that way, honestly. Like it's much more gradual and process-oriented in my head. There was not a moment when I realized that reality is a vector in Hilbert space. It kind of creeps up on you.

You think about quantum mechanics and you try to understand quantum mechanics. And then you think about interpretations of quantum mechanics and you decide that the Everett interpretation is a good one. And you realize that the Everett interpretation is really not about many worlds. It's about just the wave function, the vector in Hilbert space always obeying the Schrodinger equation.

You think about quantum mechanics and you try to understand quantum mechanics. And then you think about interpretations of quantum mechanics and you decide that the Everett interpretation is a good one. And you realize that the Everett interpretation is really not about many worlds. It's about just the wave function, the vector in Hilbert space always obeying the Schrodinger equation.

And then you say, well, okay, what are the data that define a quantum mechanical theory? Like what do you have to put into it? And you ask people and they tell you, oh, we have to give an algebra of observables and all these things. But then you think about it and you realize, no, you really don't.

And then you say, well, okay, what are the data that define a quantum mechanical theory? Like what do you have to put into it? And you ask people and they tell you, oh, we have to give an algebra of observables and all these things. But then you think about it and you realize, no, you really don't.

It might be convenient and it might be important if you are devoted to some notion of locality in your theory. So in quantum field theory, we often care about algebras of observables and things like that. Local observables is usually implicitly taken for granted there.

It might be convenient and it might be important if you are devoted to some notion of locality in your theory. So in quantum field theory, we often care about algebras of observables and things like that. Local observables is usually implicitly taken for granted there.

But really, you understand that the quantum theory simply is a theory of a vector in Hilbert space obeying the Schrodinger equation. You come to that understanding gradually. So nothing was going through my head in that moment because that moment didn't exist. Many, many things went through my head along the way to it.

But really, you understand that the quantum theory simply is a theory of a vector in Hilbert space obeying the Schrodinger equation. You come to that understanding gradually. So nothing was going through my head in that moment because that moment didn't exist. Many, many things went through my head along the way to it.