So for the past few weeks I've been contemplating the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics and it's ramifications and I started off on a route that I hadn't been down before... namely Schroedinger's cat from the cat's point of view. I basically reasoned that if I fired a gun at my head, in the vast majority of universes that exist because of the Many Worlds interpretation I would be dead, but in a tiny set, miracles of astronomical improbability (my original thought being macroscopic quantum tunnelling) would save me and my stream of consciousness would only continue in those universes where this had happened and so I would seamlessly transit to my miraculous survival. At first I thought that this could mean that everyone would live forever from their point of view, despite mounting improbably survivals, simply because of a twisted sort of anthropic principle, which I realized would likely lead to terrible maimings and injuries with no relief. I realized this would not necessarily be the case, because perhaps in some instances death reaches full probability, or if my stream of consciousness registers the catastrophe quick enough that in the majority of universes it resolves to an instance of fully probable death and I would experience death.

As I pondered about this more I refined the thought experiment. I reasoned that my method of death would have to destroy my consciousness swiftly enough that I would not know I was or was going to die, and that the resolution of measurements from the quantum flux would have to be just as swift. Thus, shooting myself in the head would not really work. I thought about a rig of explosives around my head that when triggered measured the spin of a particle and if it measured up exploded, but if measured down, did not. I reasoned that from my point of view, I would push the trigger, and nothing would happen. I could continue to push the trigger, and despite everything being set up correctly and there being a 1/2 chance of my death, I would continue to survive, but from my point of view. In the vast majority of universes I would have died, but I would be unaware of those.

From this, I had a myriad of ideas for short stories. Perhaps one where a committed scientist decides that proving the Many Worlds hypothesis is of extreme importance and carries out the experiment, knowing that it will only really help the tiny portion of universes in which he would surmount the odds. Or perhaps a typical person (with knowledge of physics, I guess) slowly realizing the insurmountable odds he's been surviving and deducing the Many Worlds interpretation, etc. etc.

Anyway, today I wiki'd Roger Penrose because a prof mentioned him and I went on a wiki adventure, blasting off from his quantum theory of consciousness, and it took me through many articles about varying physical theories of consciousness, but then on link took me by surprise... quantum immortality. I thought, "No... this can't be it..." and as I clicked the link and read the opening paragraph horror clenched me and I felt like my idea had been so brutally ripped from me and stolen. Pre-copyright infringement. My idea had already been thought of, 12 years earlier. Hell, wiki even has a list of works of fiction based around the concept, many of which were very similar to the ones I had in my head. =(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_suicide

Anyway, this has happened to me quite a few times, though not as brutally as this... I particularly remember reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, and after reading the first few chapters and deeply pondering, I came up with what I thought were original ideas, but were then elaborated upon in later chapters! Sigh...

So has this ever happened to you? And what was the idea? Also, copying from the title post in case you missed it.

"In addition, I'd like for us as a community to coin a succinct word for this phenomenon. Extra irony points if someone finds a word that already describes this."