It seems most likely to me that the cat is either alive or dead, not indeterminate. It seems most consistent with what I know of physics that each quantum decision point produces a new universe, in terms of our perception. The problem is with our perception, not the functioning of the universe.
Believe it or not, given that the mass of the universe is not infinite, the number of possible states of the universe, while unimaginably large, is in fact quantifiable. So there could be a universe in which the cat is dead and one in which it is alive. The only thing we know for sure is that the state of the universe that we find ourselves in, will have greater entropy than the one that preceded it, as we measure time. It seems that our consciousness travels from one quantum state of the universe to the next, along the arrow of increasing entropy, the only rule set being that the next state is dependent on the previous one.
I doubt that this helps, but it's my best effort in a blog comment.
I personally prefer the multi-verse interpretation that you mention. Its popular in science fiction, and gets around the issue of "changing history" through time travel. If you go back in time and change things, the universe you go back to is another universe. Its the one where you changes thins, not the one you started from.
But real (professional) physicists seem to have problems with it that go beyond my limited BS level of understanding.
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It seems most likely to me that the cat is either alive or dead, not indeterminate. It seems most consistent with what I know of physics that each quantum decision point produces a new universe, in terms of our perception. The problem is with our perception, not the functioning of the universe.
Believe it or not, given that the mass of the universe is not infinite, the number of possible states of the universe, while unimaginably large, is in fact quantifiable. So there could be a universe in which the cat is dead and one in which it is alive. The only thing we know for sure is that the state of the universe that we find ourselves in, will have greater entropy than the one that preceded it, as we measure time. It seems that our consciousness travels from one quantum state of the universe to the next, along the arrow of increasing entropy, the only rule set being that the next state is dependent on the previous one.
I doubt that this helps, but it's my best effort in a blog comment.
I personally prefer the multi-verse interpretation that you mention. Its popular in science fiction, and gets around the issue of "changing history" through time travel. If you go back in time and change things, the universe you go back to is another universe. Its the one where you changes thins, not the one you started from.
But real (professional) physicists seem to have problems with it that go beyond my limited BS level of understanding.
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