At least for me, the many worlds interpretation comes from an assumption of exactly one universal wavefunction. Different terms in this wavefunction correspond to the different worlds, and we happen to be one of many terms, entangled with our immediate surroundings, but no less a part of the universal landscape.
To me, that picture is not particularly scary. But it raises a curious question, which is why I identify with this part of the wavefunction and not another part of the wavefunction. At some level I'm asking why anything identifies with any part of the wavefunction in the first place, which is a highly nontrivial question. At a lower level, I am asking whether personalities are also a part of the universal wavefunction, so that these other worlds contain me's with different personalities. This result might be awkward enough that it is easier to choose a sort of human-centric coordinate frame and only speak of this universe, not of these other terms. In that sense, there is a sort of "fear" that the mathematics, though quite elegant, is ultimately superceded by a more intuitive picture.
My point is, to me it helps to always think about the many-worlds interpretation as a universe in quantum superpositions, rather than as some sort of bizarre "reality-splitting" idea like you see on popular physics television shows.
To me, that picture is not particularly scary. But it raises a curious question, which is why I identify with this part of the wavefunction and not another part of the wavefunction. At some level I'm asking why anything identifies with any part of the wavefunction in the first place, which is a highly nontrivial question. At a lower level, I am asking whether personalities are also a part of the universal wavefunction, so that these other worlds contain me's with different personalities. This result might be awkward enough that it is easier to choose a sort of human-centric coordinate frame and only speak of this universe, not of these other terms. In that sense, there is a sort of "fear" that the mathematics, though quite elegant, is ultimately superceded by a more intuitive picture.
My point is, to me it helps to always think about the many-worlds interpretation as a universe in quantum superpositions, rather than as some sort of bizarre "reality-splitting" idea like you see on popular physics television shows.
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It doesn't scare me, particularly, partially because I never experience myself as having any other point of view than the one I exist as. I can see where you're coming from though - meeting yourself as not yourself would be freaky. To make you feel better, however, the many worlds theory has NOT been proven, it is one contender among many.
To give you an idea about quantum mechanics and what it does and doesn't do - here's a description.
Quantum mechanics is a system that describes what we can know about atoms from their current state. It is impossible to predict precisely what an atom will do. Quantum Mechanics is a mathematical framework that allows us to predict 2 things:
To give you an idea about quantum mechanics and what it does and doesn't do - here's a description.
Quantum mechanics is a system that describes what we can know about atoms from their current state. It is impossible to predict precisely what an atom will do. Quantum Mechanics is a mathematical framework that allows us to predict 2 things:
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