To truly copy physical reality, one must know what it actually is in the first place. It is clear that a photo of me isn’t me, nor is a movie of me, nor is a biological clone of me. But if physical events are created by quantum processing, as quantum theory implies, can we copy the quantum processing? If quantum processing creates physical reality, to really duplicate a physical event one must copy the quantum processing behind it.
Unfortunately, the quantum no-cloning theorem explicitly excludes this, stating that it is impossible to create an identical copy of a quantum state because to “know” a quantum state is to collapse and so destroy it. Hence talk of uploading and downloading universes, minds or ourselves has no basis in quantum theory or information theory. It is all just wishful thinking.
A key corollary is that the quantum network proposed can’t use static storage because it is impossible to store quantum activity in any way by the quantum no-cloning theorem. The quantum network acts in a way that doesn’t have the luxury of static storage. Like a star that constantly shines, quantum processing is constant activity without pause. Cell-phone and Internet networks use buffers to handle overloads but a quantum network can’t use memory of any sort to store what it does. Computers and cell-phones save and reload physical states but quantum computers can’t store or reload quantum states. Quantum theory doesn’t allow RAM, ROM or buffers of any sort.
By this logic, McCabe’s argument that physical reality can’t come from information based on physical reality doesn’t apply to quantum reality. Classical processing needs a physical context to exist but quantum processing doesn’t depend in any way on physical reality. The original quantum reality just is what it is.