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The Strangest Idea in Science: Quantum Immortality episode artwork

Nov 8, 2026 44 min

The Strangest Idea in Science: Quantum Immortality

from Cool Worlds Hosted by Cool Worlds

This "many worlds" interpretation has been growing in prominence, but it implies a bizarre consequence. It might mean that you can never die, and will continue to survive not only life threatening events but even old age. Join us today as we explore the extraordinary idea of quantum immortality.Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas.→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcastTHANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, D. Ohman, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, T. Tarrants, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, A. Taylor, D. Wedgewood, J. Alley, D. Aron & G. Thomsen.REFERENCESTegmark, Max (1998), "The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: Many Worlds or Many Words?", Fortsch. Phys. 46, 855-862: http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/quant-ph/9709032MUSICLicensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.0:00 Hill - A Flickering Start2:48 Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna5:48 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five9:24 Chris Zabriskie - World of Wonder10:51 Stephen Keech - Selha13:25 Hill - A Sad Scene from a Sad Film16:54 Hill - The Persecuted19:39 Falls - Life in Binary22:10 Hill - Mourning Wakes25:35 Hill - The Now is Only a Thin Slice of Who I Am28:46 Kyle Preston - An Ocean of Quiet Confession31:29 Kyle Preston - Up The Oregon Coast33:43 Joachim Heinrich - YCHAPTERS0:00 Introduction5:48 The Wavefunction Never Collapses9:26 Incogni10:55 Quantum Russian Roulette14:41 Generalized Immortality16:57 Anthropic Reasoning19:28 Corrected Intensity Rule22:10 Non-Quantum Analogies28:45 What is Self?31:26 Final Thoughts35:43 Outro & Credits#CoolWorlds #QuantumImmortality #ManyWorlds

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The Strangest Idea in Science: Quantum Immortality

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