While media reported on this, I was thinking "Multiverse? Don't they mean many worlds?" Even physicists conflate the two terms. One of the advantages of deriving a theory like MIWOI is I can also define how that theory uses the terms.

The group of many worlds that account for the M and W in MIWOI is the set of worlds in which the physics operates the same as in the world we observe. The speed of light is the same, the gravitational constant G is the same, as are numerous other values that define how things happen within our world. Where the members of this set differ is in the state of the objects within. In some worlds, a quantum coin flip results in heads, in others tails, but the process of flipping that coin is the same in all worlds.

So, as MIWOI views it, the Willow chip operates across many worlds rather than many universes. Such spreading of computation effort to arrive at a combined result is an example of Interacting, the first I in MIWOI.

Multiverse instead refers to different universes in which different physics operates. For example, perhaps the speed of light in some other multiverse is different than in ours. The two terms are compatible: each multiverse member can contain many worlds.

If the Willow chip tapped into various multiverse members, it is unlikely the chip would operate in a manner compatible across those members. For example, the speed of light could be different in some of those places, which would negatively impact the chip's data transmission and coordination.

Does the Willow chip, indeed all of quantum computing, prove that MIWOI is correct? While successful quantum computing in consistent with MIWOI, it does not prove it. We still lack evidence that the other worlds purported to be participating in a quantum computation are real and substantial. MIWOI posits that they are but awaits more evidence. MIWOI's proposed Dark Coherence experiment is more direct proof of the physical existence of other worlds.

Published 2024 December 20