As an aside, standard quantum mechanics does *not* allow faster than
light communication through manipulations of entangled pairs.

Okay, here's my neat idea for an sf story (and this one is definitely
not released under the GPL):

I'm sure that you're all aware of the many-worlds interpretation of
quantum mechanics (and it doesn't really matter if you aren't, as long
as you have some grasp of the more general idea of each event leading
to a branching of many alternative universes). Now, imagine an
instantaneous disintegrator linked to a quantum coin-flipper (i.e. a
device that evolves into an equal superposition of "heads" and "tails";
something that you can make using electron spins or something). The
disintegrator is set to zap its contents when one of the quantum coins
lands heads up. Now I step into the chamber and the coin is flipped.
The universe branches into two alternatives, one in which I'm instantly
fried, and another in which I happily step out of the machine. To
everybody else there's an equal chance of either outcome. For me,
however, I always survive, because I can't find myself in the branch in
which I'm fried. I go into the chamber again and repeat the process.
Now three out of four universes are filled with my grief-stricken
friends and family, but I find myself in the one in four in which I'm
not zapped. I can do this as many times as I like, and as long as the
many worlds interpretation is right I always survive.

Now, here's the neat idea. Experiencing death now becomes impossible,
because there are *always* branches in which the person survives. It's
certainly possible to see people die from the outside, but never from
the inside, regardless of the circumstances. Of course, there's no
guarantee that you survive with any quality of life, just that you
never die. However, suppose that you set things up so that the only
alternatives are that you die or something wildly improbable happens
(like the guys in the next lab finally figure out how to damp out
nuclear reactions or build forcefields or something). Then you find
yourself in a universe in which that wildly improbable occurence
occurs. And you can do this repeatedly until you end up in the
scientific utopia of your dreams...

Or states can use the disintegrator to execute criminals, secure in the
knowledge that they aren't extinguishing that person, just shuffling
everybody else into a universe in which the criminal is dead...

------------------
"Try not.
Do.
Or Do not.
There is no try."
-Yoda, Jedi Master.

[This message has been edited by Gurgeh (edited May 01, 2000).]
 

And what about aging, James? You can jump and jump all you like, but you'll still age - unless the jumps took place at a rate faster than the decay of all the atoms and cells in your body - some Utopian lifestyle you'd be able to form then, eh?
And what death are you cheating, exactly? You're only bringing the fiery fate of half of you on yourself by choosing to step into that machine.

You do realise that this for this to work the chamber would need to be travelling at over two-thirds the speed of light (in a vacuum doh!) while "flying" the shape of a half-hitch knot around two superstrings which penetrate the event horizon of a two-month old black hole, into whose singularity you must plunge two old wine corks, a TV Times with Noel Edmonds on the cover that isn't a Xmas Edition and a I/O connector from a Sinclair.
Also, you are required to be holding a plastic coat-hanger on one hand and a divining rod between the 2nd and 3rd toes of your left foot, the whole enterprise occuring on the Tuesday of the week prior to your setting out (as the laws of physics as we know them have no meaning in black holes, that bit is easy provided you bring at least 30 Solar Masses with you around the superstrings, enough to alter the 'orbit'/tilt of the black hole sufficient for you to be sucked in (eventually, butdon't worry! the plan is naerly flawless!) but sent backwards through time! But only as far as the previous Tuesday!)

Clever, eh?

------------------
Secret spies frm China try to steal you mind's elation,
Little girls from Sweden dream of silver screen flirtation,
And if you want these kind of dreams
It's Californication.

 

------------------
Harold: "You're missing the point!"
Red: "Well, I don't like points."
-The Red Green Show