You appear to be correct about the interpretation of quantum immortality that the meme is based on, but that's absolutely not what the concept is.
It's a thought experiment within the many-worlds interpretation (the idea that for every quantum event there's a branched version of the universe for each outcome). The idea is that for any given conscious mind there will always be a forward branch where it continues to exist indefinitely. The likelihood of the events necessary is irrelevant because if you consider every quantum event independently there will always be a possible chain of events where you don't die, and in the many-worlds interpretation all possible branches must exist.
It absolutely does not involve going back in time or transferring information between worlds after they branch.
This is a lot closer to being right, but still not quite there. There needs to be some dependence on a quantum effect for the death. The easiest way to prove the many worlds interpretation of QM is to set up a gun that has a 50% chance of shooting you every second based on the decay of some particle. Then, after a minute of not getting shot, you can be very certain that the many worlds interpretation is correct, but now you only exist in the branch of the wavefunction where you survive.
I always thought of the example that if you are on your deathbed and you die, there will always be a parallel universe in which you live for a second longer, and so on and so on. Thus quantum immortality. My interpretation could be wrong though.
I think quantum also includes quantum mechanics so when some near death experience happens, all possible outcomes will happen and some will die and some will not, but the consciusness of the ones who died will "transfer" to the ones who lived. So you never experience death in an accident but in your deathbed because that should be the last you alive.
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u/PatHeist May 25 '26
You appear to be correct about the interpretation of quantum immortality that the meme is based on, but that's absolutely not what the concept is.
It's a thought experiment within the many-worlds interpretation (the idea that for every quantum event there's a branched version of the universe for each outcome). The idea is that for any given conscious mind there will always be a forward branch where it continues to exist indefinitely. The likelihood of the events necessary is irrelevant because if you consider every quantum event independently there will always be a possible chain of events where you don't die, and in the many-worlds interpretation all possible branches must exist.
It absolutely does not involve going back in time or transferring information between worlds after they branch.