[krohling]

> it doesn't seem to offer much in terms of explanation of how the entangled state ends up being what it is:

According to MWI, all possible results of an experiment are manifest and real. You're asking "which particular entangled state we end up in?". You end up in all of them. For a 2-state superposition system, there are 2 versions of "you" that exist after the experiment, both of which are equally real. Subsequent measurements of the quantum system will appear to be "collapsed" for both versions of you but each will see different and opposing values.

[lamontcg]

> You end up in all of them.

Except that I've only ever experienced ending up in one of them, so exactly how did the "I" that is typing this right now wind up here, and not in some other branch?

There's an unexplained bifurcation of consciousness implied by MWI which it cannot explain (although I think it suggests the appeal of MWI since it gives enough wiggle room that people think that their free will could control which universe they wind up in, which appeals to everyone's inner Malcolm Gladwell).

[cillian64]

I’m currently reading Anathem so this is an interesting topic.

For simplicity, let’s say that all quantum interactions have two possible outcomes, 0 or 1.

The first point is that we can only talk about what interactions appear to have done in the past in our worldline/universe, which is randomly distribute themselves between 0 and 1. If we happened to be on a worldline where all interactions had always resulted in 0 for the whole history of the universe then that universe almost certainly wouldn’t support complex life. So perhaps there’s an observership bias here: if quantum interactions hadn’t decently distributed themselves between 0 and 1 then we wouldn’t be asking this question (just like the values of all the other fundamental constants).

As far as I can tell there’s nothing in current theories which would rule out all future interactions happening to result in a 0. Let’s hope our consciousness don’t end up on that worldline (unless you believe in quantum invulnerability).

[GoblinSlayer]

You end up in all branches and your consciousness ends up in all branches, where your mind works. MWI works best with physicalism, yep :)

Maybe your copy in another branch even posted the same comment.