I’m not sure what quantum mechanics has to do with this. Say humanity is spread over 10 planets. Would you rather take a logical 9⁄10 chance of wiping out humanity, or destroy 9 of the planets with certainty (and also destroy 90% of uninhabited planets to reduce the potential for future growth by the same degree)? Is there any ethically relevant difference between these scenarios?
The “planets” example admit the MWI is correct. Without MWI, the quantum trigger is exactly a normal random trigger, not killing 9/10th of the worlds, but killing everyone with a 1/10th probability. The thought experiment is a way to force people to quantify their acceptance of MWI.
Communication. There is no communication possible between the MW, while there is between the planets, and that will have massive long term effects.
I’m not sure what quantum mechanics has to do with this. Say humanity is spread over 10 planets. Would you rather take a logical 9⁄10 chance of wiping out humanity, or destroy 9 of the planets with certainty (and also destroy 90% of uninhabited planets to reduce the potential for future growth by the same degree)? Is there any ethically relevant difference between these scenarios?
There are two differences I can see :
The “planets” example admit the MWI is correct. Without MWI, the quantum trigger is exactly a normal random trigger, not killing 9/10th of the worlds, but killing everyone with a 1/10th probability. The thought experiment is a way to force people to quantify their acceptance of MWI.
Communication. There is no communication possible between the MW, while there is between the planets, and that will have massive long term effects.
Good point.
The two scenarios have somewhat different intuition pumps, but are otherwise similar.