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Multiverse Question

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  • Multiverse Question

    Hi, me again! No, not debating, I really just want an answer - although I concede I suspect that it depends on who you ask (not in a bad way, just that it's not firmly established).

    Okay, so the multiverse - is it supposedly existent at all three levels of scale: infinitesimal, macro, infinite? My understanding is that it primarily answers issues at the infinitesimal and just because a quark can have infinite possibilities does not mean the table it belongs to also has infinite possibilities (until the collapse, of course).

    Sci Fi operates under the assumption that the multiverse exists at the macro and (probably) the infinite as well. So there is a dimension out there that has Earth populated by blue unicorns who all speak Klingon. Great stories result - but is this a valid representation of the theory?

    Thanks in advance!

    Oh, and if you want to post links, remember I'm a layman - my days as a physics student were short and long, long ago...
    "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

    "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

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  • #2
    The speculation you speak of comes from the combining of two areas of... speculation.

    One is the of 'many worlds interpretation' of QM by Hugh Everett, which postulates that each quantum state is representative of an alternative history occurring in a larger universe. Some have speculated that it means 'anything goes' in this domain, leading to some absurd conclusions such as each of us having a history where we are president (), etc,. The metaphysical conclusions get really silly, really fast.

    The other is the anthropic landscape. This postulates that the universe is actually a larger domain of 'pocket universes' (PU) where the constants of nature vary greatly, leading to different environments. String theory and cosmic inflation are the basis to these ideas, and while there is some evidence to support inflation, we really don't understand it all that well. String theory is a mangled mess of esoteric mathematics, and has gone nowhere in forty years. There are good reasons for taking the idea seriously, but we're nowhere near confirming - plus alternatives do exist.

    Here's a good rundown of the situation.

    The Multiverse: Big Bangs Without End

    Source: SkyandTelescope


    We usually think of the universe as being “everything there is.” But many astronomers and physicists now suspect that the universe we observe is just a small part of an unbelievably larger and richer cosmic structure, often called the “multiverse.” This mind-bending notion – that our universe may be just one of many, perhaps an infinite number, of real, physical universes – was front and center at a three-day conference entitled "A Debate in Cosmology — The Multiverse," held at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, earlier this month.

    The multiverse idea is not new. Physicists have been toying with it ever since Hugh Everett III came up with the “many worlds” interpretation of quantum mechanics back in the 1950s. It took on new life after 1980, when the inflationary-universe theory of the Big Bang's first moments began to suggest that our Big Bang was not a unique event but just a tiny bit of a much larger, ongoing process.

    The multiverse idea has had yet another surge of interest in recent years, as a result of a newer idea: string theory. Developed as a possible “theory of everything” that would unite quantum mechanics and gravity, string theory, physicists hoped, would provide a unique description of the universe and why the laws of nature are what they are. Instead, according to some theorists, it lays out a picture of not a single universe but rather a broader “landscape” in which the laws of physics vary from one region to another. It may be that only a small fraction of these regions have conditions allowing any kind of complex matter to exist, and hence intelligent life.

    Part of the appeal is that a varied multiverse like this would neatly account for the many remarkable coincidences we observe in the laws of physics that make possible any kind of complex matter, such as atoms and molecules. When we life forms arise and look around, we naturally find ourselves in one of these very rare special realms, merely because we could not have come into being anywhere else. This kind self-selection logic is called "anthropic reasoning."

    © Copyright Original Source



    http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astro...s-without-end/

    Cheers.

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    • #3
      Thanks!
      "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

      "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

      My Personal Blog

      My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)

      Quill Sword

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      • #4
        No problem.

        Comment


        • #5
          Yes and no, it depends what "type" of multiverse you hold to. David Deutsch suggests four different types:

          1. None

          2. One in which there is more of a universe than accessible to current instruments (this is what I subscribe to)

          3. One in which there are separate universes, similar to our own.

          4. One in which the physical constants greatly vary among multiverses.

          Comment


          • #6
            The wikipedia article has a bit more information on the possible types of multiverses based on current theories. I'm just going to quote the section here.

            for the entire article, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse

            Source: wikipedia multiverse article


            Brian Greene's nine types
            The American theoretical physicist and string theorist, Brian Greene, discussed nine types of parallel universes:[64]
            Quilted
            The quilted multiverse works only in an infinite universe. With an infinite amount of space, every possible event will occur an infinite number of times. However, the speed of light prevents us from being aware of these other identical areas.
            Inflationary
            The inflationary multiverse is composed of various pockets in which inflation fields collapse and form new universes.
            Brane
            The brane multiverse version postulates that our entire universe exists on a membrane (brane) which floats in a higher dimension or "bulk". In this bulk, there are other membranes with their own universes. These universes can interact with one another, and when they collide, the violence and energy produced is more than enough to give rise to a big bang. The branes float or drift near each other in the bulk, and every few trillion years, attracted by gravity or some other force we do not understand, collide and bang into each other. This repeated contact gives rise to multiple or "cyclic" big bangs. This particular hypothesis falls under the string theory umbrella as it requires extra spatial dimensions.
            Cyclic
            The cyclic multiverse (via the ekpyrotic scenario) has multiple branes (each a universe) that have collided, causing Big Bangs. The universes bounce back and pass through time until they are pulled back together and again collide, destroying the old contents and creating them anew.
            Landscape
            The landscape multiverse relies on string theory's Calabi–Yau spaces. Quantum fluctuations drop the shapes to a lower energy level, creating a pocket with a set of laws different from that of the surrounding space.
            Quantum
            The quantum multiverse creates a new universe when a diversion in events occurs, as in the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
            Holographic
            The holographic multiverse is derived from the theory that the surface area of a space can simulate the volume of the region.
            Simulated
            The simulated multiverse exists on complex computer systems that simulate entire universes.
            Ultimate
            The ultimate multiverse contains every mathematically possible universe under different laws of physics.

            © Copyright Original Source



            It's all very much speculative at this point, though in theory there may be ways to get hints as to whether or not they are out there.

            There was an article aimed at layman descibing a conundrum that might point to such a thing: a 'cold spot' in the CMB

            https://futurism.com/new-evidence-ab...-a-multiverse/

            and here:

            http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2...t-space-could/

            Another intriguing varient is the simulation universe which basically blew Tassman's mind. Nevertheless, it is one of the possible types of universes in the multiverse that has a least some serious representation. Nick Bostrom at Oxford has published some papers on the idea and seems to be pushing it as a serious possibility.

            http://www.simulation-argument.com/matrix.html

            The other one I find interesting is the holographic universe, where we 'really' are simply existing on a 2-D hologrphic surface:

            https://phys.org/news/2017-01-reveal...-universe.html

            It's all very fantastic stuff, but there are serious scientists doing serious work on these ideas and astronomers and physicists are keeping their eyes open for hints one of them might have observable evidence.

            JIm
            Last edited by oxmixmudd; 08-03-2017, 11:57 AM.
            My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. James 2:1

            If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not  bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless James 1:26

            This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; James 1:19

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            • #7
              OOOOHHHH!!!!! Thanks guys!!!!!!
              "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

              "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

              My Personal Blog

              My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)

              Quill Sword

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              • #8
                I want to go live in the Star Trek universe.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                  I want to go live in the Star Trek universe.
                  Jeremiah 31;37,
                  Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
                  . . . the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; . . . -- Romans 1:16 KJV

                  . . . that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: . . . -- 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 KJV

                  Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: . . . -- 1 John 5:1 KJV

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                    I want to go live in the Star Trek universe.
                    Sorry, no room there, it's full of Tribbles. You need the Star Trek2 universe, the one without Tribbles.

                    rossum

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by rossum View Post
                      Sorry, no room there, it's full of Tribbles. You need the Star Trek2 universe, the one without Tribbles.

                      rossum
                      I was hoping for the Star Trek the New Generation Universe. More modern.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                        I was hoping for the Star Trek the New Generation Universe. More modern.
                        You could take your cell phone with you to the original one and use it to "modernize" their communicators. With your luck if you went to the STNG universe you'd end up on a planet being assimilated by the Borg.

                        I'm always still in trouble again

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                          You could take your cell phone with you to the original one and use it to "modernize" their communicators. With your luck if you went to the STNG universe you'd end up on a planet being assimilated by the Borg.
                          Do they have wi-fi?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                            You could take your cell phone with you to the original one and use it to "modernize" their communicators. With your luck if you went to the STNG universe you'd end up on a planet being assimilated by the Borg.
                            In some other universe they are watching a TV show about an alternate history America that is run by celebrities and overrun by radical liberals who demand free speech be stopped and that eating tacos is racist.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                              You could take your cell phone with you to the original one and use it to "modernize" their communicators. With your luck if you went to the STNG universe you'd end up on a planet being assimilated by the Borg.
                              Nah. "Phasers on slaughter!"

                              rossum

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