The Many Worlds Interpretation and the

Possible Existance of God(s)

by j00cy

A Crash Course in Quantum Mechanics

For those of you who don’t know quantum mechanics, I’ll try to give a very
quick overview of it here. You’ll need a background in linear algebra to un-
derstand it. Note that quantum theory is a very broad subject and it will
take more than an entire lifetime to learn all of it, but what I’m presenting
here is the very basics of the theory.

Quantum mechanics has some axioms which are stated below

1. The possible configurations that a quantum mechanical system can be

in are represented by vectors in a Hilbert space (a special type of vector
space), denoted by |ψi.

2. Hermitian (self-adjoint) operators  (which are matricies in finite di-

mensional Hilbert spaces) acting on the Hilbert space represent the
observables. Their eigenvalues are the observables values of the observ-
able, and their eigenvectors are the observable states. So for instance,
if we have
Â|φi = a|φi
Then |φi is an observable state, and a ∈ R is an experimentally ob-
servable value.

3. The time evolution of a state is modelled by the Schrodinger equation.

In natural units, this is written as
∂
Ĥ|ψ(t)i = i |ψ(t)i
∂t
where Ĥ is known as the Hamiltonian operator.

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Note that for axiom 3, we can write using something called the “Heisenburg
representation” where the operators are time dependent using an “evolution
operator”. Let |ψ, t0 i denote a state at the inital time t0 . Then the evolution
operator, denoted Û (t). It evolves the state |ψ, t0 i forward into a time tf as
follows,
|ψ, tf i = Û (t0 + tf )|ψ, t0 i
.

One of the most bizarre features of quantum mechanics is “superposition”,

where a state can simultaneously be in two states at once somehow. To un-
derstand this better, let’s say we’re looking at a position observable, then a
superposition state means that the particle is in multiple places at the same
time.

For a simple two-dimensional Hilbert space system, such as for electron spin,
there are two possible states, either the electron has spin up, denoted by |upi,
or spin down, denoted by |downi. An superposition state of electron spin is
written as,

|ψi = α|upi + β|downi

|α| is the probability of measuring |upi and |β|2 is the probability of mea-
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suring |downi.

If you know anything about quantum mechanics, you’ll probably know about
the philosophical debates over which interpretation of QM is true. The two
most popular interpretations are the Copenhagen Interpretation (made pop-
ular by Niels Bohr, one of the early pioneers of QM) and the Many Worlds
Interpretation.

The Copenhagen interpretation adds a new postulate to the above postulates

of QM.
Copenhagen Postulate (The Collapse Postulate): Upon observation
(measurement), a superposition state will discontinuously collapse into an
eigenstate. This is more popularly known as the “wavefunction collape”.
The Many Worlds Interpretation rejects this postulate and says that the
wavefunction collapse never happens, and instead, each possibility material-
izes in it’s own “world”. This implies a huge multiverse of possibilities, each
existing in their own independent reality.

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The crux of the Many Worlds interpretation is this concept of a “universal
wavefunction” or “universal state”. This is a state which I’ll denote by
|Γi that describes all the possibilities for all the quantum measurements
happening in the entire universe,
X
|Γi = ci |φi i
i

Where |φi i are eigenstates. So in other words, |Γi describes an unbelievably

huge number of states in superposition that is supposed to give a full de-
scription of the universe at this given instant of time. Instead of collapsing
into just one of these eigenstates, the Many Worlds Interpretation says
that each of these states |φi i materializes in it’s own independent
universe, resulting in a huge multiverse.

The Argument
If we assume that the universal state function |Γi and it’s evolution operator
exists as the Many Worlds Interpretation says it does, but we also assume
that Bohr’s Copenhagen interpretation is actually the correct interpretation
of quantum mechanics, then this could fit well with theism.

In other words, if Bohr believed that some kind of supreme ‘God(s)” exists
who watches over the universe, then he could argue that |Γi collapses due to
observation by this God(s). This God(s) could also “design” the universe by
writing down the exact initial expression for |Γi and it’s evolution operator,
and then bring the universe into existance by measuring |Γi. Then, the uni-
verse would be maintained by repeatedly preparing Û (t)|Γi and measuring
it for each time t.

In other words, God(s) would be the ultimate observer of the universal state
|Γi, and I argue that this could be a natural consequence if the Copenhagen
interpretation is correct while the universal wavefunction idea is also correct.

So the argument in a nutshell is that if the Copenhagen Interpretation is

true, and the Universal Wavefunction is also true, then that might
imply the existance of some kind of “God” or “Gods” who collapse
the universal wavefunction.

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Of course, this is just speculation and I don’t think this should be taken
seriously, we would have to make several more assumptions about what this
“God” can do, and then that would lead into the philosophical debate over
weather a “God” like this can actually exist or not, which is a whole new
rabbit hole.