Versions of You in Other Universes May Be Subtly Affecting Your Destiny, Oxford Physicist Says

"Physics, Verdal says, does not support that idea. That collapse effect isn't a special power of human consciousness, but rather a fact of physics that says interactions - any interaction - forces a quantum system to commit to a definite state."

"For example, when a photon hits your sunglasses, it isn't waiting around for your brain to take notice. The photon either passes through the lens or reflects off it, depending on the precise variables at play. In other words, the photon's path isn't shaped by you. Instead, Verdal asserts that you are shaped by the photon's path: the "you" that receives that particular photon is different from the "you" that didn't."

"Extrapolate this out and it gets dizzying quick. But at the core of Verdal's argument is the idea that both "yous" will go on to exist simultaneously, though the "you" that consciously perceives the light is necessarily shoved off onto a different quantum path than the one that doesn't."

""Without too much exaggeration, it's fair to say that all quantum experiments are really just more or less complicated versions of Schrödinger's," Vedral argued."

Quantum systems can exist in multiple states until interactions force a definite outcome. The common idea that observation collapses possibilities is reversed: collapse results from interactions, not from a mind looking. When a photon encounters sunglasses, it either passes through or reflects based on physical variables, without waiting for the brain to notice. The person who receives that photon is associated with a different quantum path than the person who does not. Many such interactions create branching realities, so multiple versions of “you” can persist while conscious perception aligns with one specific branch.

Read at Futurism