The Multiverse Interpretation Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 783-4):

The supporters of alternative (b), on the other hand, do take |ψ⟩ [the wave function] to represent reality, but they deny that R [the collapse of the wave function] happens at all. They would argue that when a measurement takes place, all the alternative outcomes actually coexist in reality, in a grand quantum linear superposition of alternative universes. This grand superposition is described by a wavefunction |ψ⟩ for the entire universe. It is sometimes referred to as the ‘multiverse’, but I believe that a more appropriate term is the omnium. For although this viewpoint is commonly colloquially expressed as a belief in the parallel co-existence of different alternative worlds, this is misleading. The alternative worlds do not really ‘exist’ separately, in this view; only the vast particular superposition expressed by |ψ⟩ is taken as real.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the wave function construes potential, and its superpositions are the superposition of potential, not actual. It is only with the collapse of the wavefunction, when an observation is made, that the actual is instantiated. Supporters of the multiverse interpretation mistake potential universes for the actual universe that we experience as meaning.