X-Message-Number: 14835 Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 11:49:16 -0700 From: Mike Perry <> Subject: Multiverse Not Horrible Bob Ettinger, #14828: >As I have said before, I earnestly hope the Multiverse is not factual, since it seems to imply that everything "possible" happens, and almost everything "possible" is horrible. Let's hope there is indeed, as Prof. Rothwarf says, just one universe. I devote a chapter (no. 11 to be exact) of my book to "Will the Good Prevail?" and conclude it probably will, in the multiverse, even though horrible scenarios are allowed. I don't really see how almost everything possible is (probably) horrible. A case might be made that almost every possible universe will not support sentient life at all, but this would not be at all horrible--who would be hurt by it? As for the universes that would and do support advanced, sentient life-forms, though we don't have much to go on except our one planet here, we can reasonably conjecture that said life-forms will be looking out for their own interests, so this alone would be a counterweight to any tendencies toward a horrible outcome. I don't see why we would have to conclude that most likely such beings would suffer a terrible fate, given that they would be using their advancing ingenuity to avoid such a fate. Here on Earth I am impressed by the tendencies of our civilization to solve the problems that confront it, despite some horrific missteps. I think the world is definitely getting to be a better place overall, as medical and other advances occur and we seem to be getting visibly closer to the conquest of aging (also the perfection of reversible cryopreservation). Again, having little else to go on, I would imagine that intelligent civilizations elsewhere would make the same sort of advances, as a rule. So there is ground for optimism about reality as a whole, if some form of the multiverse idea is correct. Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14835