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Multiverse
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A generic prediction of chaotic inflation is an infinite ergodic universe, which, being infinite, must contain Hubble volumes
realizing all initial conditions.
Accordingly, an infinite universe will contain an infinite number of Hubble volumes, all having the same physical laws and physical
constants. In regard to configurations such as the distribution of matter, almost all will differ from our Hubble volume. However,
because there are infinitely many, far beyond the cosmological horizon, there will eventually be Hubble volumes with similar, and
115
even identical, configurations. Tegmark estimates that an identical volume to ours should be about 1010 meters away from us
(a number larger than a googolplex). [4][5]
M-theory [edit]
See also: Brane cosmology and String theory landscape
A multiverse of a somewhat different kind has been envisaged within the multi-dimensional extension of string theory known as
M-theory, also known as Membrane Theory.[13] In M-theory our universe and others are created by collisions between p-branes
in a space with 11 and 26 dimensions (the number of dimensions depends on the chirality of the observer);[14][15] each universe
takes the form of a D-brane.[14][15] Objects in each universe are essentially confined to the D-brane of their universe, but may be
able to interact with other universes via gravity, a force which is not restricted to D-branes.[16] This is unlike the universes in the
"quantum multiverse", but both concepts can operate at the same time.
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universes, some of these would have laws that were suitable for stars, planets and life to exist. The weak anthropic principle
could then be applied to conclude that we would only consciously exist in those universes which were finely-tuned for our
conscious existence. Thus, while the probability might be extremely small that there is life in most of the universes, this scarcity
of life-supporting universes does not imply intelligent design as the only explanation of our existence.
Criticisms [edit]
Hinduism [edit]
Main article: Hindu cosmology
The concept of multiple universes is mentioned many times in Hindu Puranic literature, such as in the Bhagavata Purana:
"Lord Śiva said: My dear son, I, Lord Brahmā and the other devas, who rotate within this universe under the
misconception of our greatness, cannot exhibit any power to compete with the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
for innumerable universes and their inhabitants come into existence and are annihilated by the simple direction
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of the Lord." (Bhagavata Purana 9.4.56)
Islam [edit]
Main article: Islamic cosmology
There are exactly seven verses in the Quran that specify that there are seven heavens. One verse says that each heaven or sky
has its own order, possibly meaning laws of nature. Another verse says after mentioning the seven heavens "and similar earths".
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209), in dealing with his conception of physics and the physical world in his Matalib, "explores the
notion of the existence of a multiverse in the context of his commentary" on the Qur'anic verse, "All praise belongs to God, Lord
of the Worlds." He raises the question of whether the term "worlds" in this verse refers to "multiple worlds within this single
universe or cosmos, or to many other universes or a multiverse beyond this known universe." Al-Razi disagreed with the
Aristotelian and Avicennian view of the impossibility of multiple universes. This disagreement arose from his affirmation of
atomism, as advocated by the Ash'ari school of Islamic theology, which entails the existence of vacant space in which the
atoms move, combine and separate.[24] He argued that God has the power to fill the vacuum with an infinite number of
universes.[25]
Afterlife [edit]
Many religions include an afterlife existence in realms, such as heavens and hells, which may be very different from the
observable universe.
Eschatology [edit]
See also: End time
Eschatological scenarios may include a new different world after the end time of the current one. For example, Hindu cosmology
includes the idea of an infinite cycle of births and deaths and an infinite number of universes with each cycle lasting 8.4 billion
years.[26]
Similar eschatological scenarios appear in other religions, in the form of belief in there being a new and different world after the
end time of the current one.
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Parallel universe
(fiction) . (Discuss)
This "In popular culture" section may contain minor or trivial references. Please
reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture rather than
simply listing appearances, and remove trivial references. (May 2010)
See also: Parallel universe (fiction) and Fictional universe
Literature [edit]
The term Multiverse was notably used in 1962 by science fiction author Michael Moorcock, though not for the first time in
literature, having previously been used by both William James in 1895 and John Cowper Powys in his 1955 novel The Brazen
Head (p. 279). The author and editor Paul le Page Barnett, best known by the pseudonym John Grant, later used the term
polycosmos for a similar concept binding together a number of his works. He formed the word from Greek morphemes where
'multiverse' uses Latin.[27]
Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle Takes place in a parallel universe where the allies lost WWII. The novel follows
several characters, one of whom travels to what is implied as an alternate universe for a short time.(our own)
In the World of Tiers novels (1965) by Philip José Farmer, the background of the stories are set in a multiverse where godlike
beings are able to create a number of pocket universes at their whim. Our own universe is part of this series, but interestingly its
boundary appears to end at the edge of the solar system.
In a 1971 short story "All the Myriad Ways", author Larry Niven explores the psychological implications of Multiverse theory. The
story somewhat erroneously postulates that since a split in the Multiverse is created at each decision point, the number of
suicides would rise dramatically as people consider how the possibility of ending their lives would impact the many versions of
the universe. The idea is that simply considering the act causes all possible outcomes to occur in somewhat equal proportion.
While the story is highly entertaining, this notion is pure fiction, and is not supported by any significant theory of muitiple
universes.
The way in which Robert A. Heinlein used interlocking characters and settings in his novels have led to his worlds being
described as a multiverse.[28]
In C.S. Lewis's series The Chronicles of Narnia, multiple universes exist within a monotheistic, rather than a naturalistic
framework. At the will of Aslan (who corresponds to the Christian God), the main characters enter different universes through
various means, including a forest containing pools of water. A leap into any pool will take one into a universe with natural laws
and even a structure differing from our own. (In Narnia, for instance, the world is not spherical, but flat, and the brave mouse
Reepicheep travels to the end of it in order to enter "Aslan's Country".)
In Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials the lead characters enter parallel universes by using a knife to cut into the fabric of
reality.
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The novel Timeline by Michael Crichton uses the multiverse theory as a mechanism for travel back to medieval times to research
the Hundred Years' War.
A 2000 Dean Koontz Novel, From the Corner of His Eye, is based entirely around the belief in multiple realities. At least four
characters in the book have special abilities based around the use of multiple realities.
Stephen King's Dark Tower series presupposes the idea of a multiverse, an "infinity of infinities", all meeting at a central nexus
point in space and time, the Dark Tower itself.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy features the 'Whole Sort of General Mish-Mash', in which every possible universe is located
at some point along the probability axis.
Film [edit]
In the 2001 Jet Li film, The One, Jet Li's character travels to several different universes to carry out his deadly deeds.
Although not explicitly described as such in the film, the alternate reality experienced by the George Bailey and Clarence
characters in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life may be interpreted as a parallel universe.
The 2009 film Star Trek features the characters of Spock and Nero traveling backwards in time by means of a black hole,
drastically altering the timeline. Though this is not a true alternate universe, it presents an altered history within our "original"
universe.
Television [edit]
In the 2010 season of Lost a new "flash sideways" storyline seemed to show a parallel universe where the passengers of
Oceanic Flight 815 land safely in Los Angeles and the island they originally crashed on is now underwater. The idea that it was a
parallel universe arose from events in the previous season involving several main characters on the island that had traveled back
in time to the year 1977. In the episodes leading up to the end of the 2009 season it was implied that detonating a hydrogen
bomb within a pocket of electromagnetic energy could reset time and make it so Oceanic Flight 815 never crashed, which leads
to the characters who are stuck in 1977 detonating the bomb in the final moments of the season finale. When the 2010 season
opened with what appeared to be two different timelines, one where the plane never crashed and one where the characters that
detonated the bomb are back to their original time yet still stuck on the island, it seemed to imply to the viewers that the bomb
had created a parallel universe instead of just resetting the one they were in like they had thought it would. However, in the 2010
series finale, it is revealed that the bomb did not reset time or create a parallel universe. Instead the "flash sideways" world is
actually a super flash forward set after all the events on the island that shows a spiritual gateway to the afterlife, created by the
characters to find one another after they die and to allow themselves to let go of their physical lives before moving on, rather than
an actual parallel universe in the physical sense.
During the "Android Arc" in Dragon Ball Z, the show's main character, Son Goku dies from an incurable heart virus roughly two
and a half years after killing Frieza and his father King Cold. Six months later, a pair of androids appear and kill all of the Z
fighters (except for Son Gohan and infant Trunks). As a result of this divergent timeline, several key characters are not born.
These characters are: Goten, Pan, Bra, Marron and Uub. Trunks, now nearly an adult, travels 20 years into the past where/when
the main timeline viewers are familiar with exists.
In the network movie Turtles Forever, the 2003 turtles meet their 1980s conterparts, claiming that they came from an alternate
universe. It is later revealed that there is a multiverse of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The television show Sliders was based entirely on the possibility of parallel universes. In each episode the stars experienced an
alternate universe through the use of a device that would create a portal through which to travel to those alternate realities.
In the season 8 premiere of Family Guy, Stewie and Brian use an enhanced device to travel to different universes. They
temporarily stay in a world where dogs are the dominant species before returning to their world.
The Fox show Fringe explores an alternate universe as part of its series-wide plot. The show also touches on crossing over to
the other side, the advancement of science and technology bringing two worlds together, as well as the possibility of two worlds
colliding and bringing one of them to an end.
Several storylines in the Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises have involved multiverses. Examples include: "Mirror, Mirror" (and
sequels) in Star Trek: The Original Series; "Parallels" in Star Trek: The Next Generation; and "Inferno", "Rise of the Cybermen"
and "Turn Left" in Doctor Who.
Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe also have episodes where people travel to different parallel universes
and alternate timelines. Episodes include "There but for the Grace of God", "2010", "2001", "Moebius" parts 1 and 2, "Before I
Sleep", "Mackay and Mrs. Miller", "The Last Man", "Vegas" and "Time".
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and the other leading into The Wind Waker.
In the anime Gurren Lagann each main character is trapped in their own multiverse (Referred to as the Multiverse Labyrinth) This
is an attempt to trick them into losing their sense of reality, thus rendering them unable to continue the final fight. To escape, the
main character's wife (who is not present) inserts a beacon into the group multiverse illusions, using a neutral memory of a
beloved character to create a group realization and thus escape.
In the fictional series of Robert Jordan's World of the Wheel of time, the main character Rand Al Thor at one time uses his One
power to channel power through a Portal stone which causes him and his troupe to experience lives in various probability
universes, which however always end with his death (he is a pivotal character in the series on account of the dark one).
References [edit]
Notes [edit]
1. ^ James, William, The Will to Believe, 1895; and earlier in 1895, as cited in OED's new 2003 entry for "multiverse": "1895 W.
JAMES in Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 6 10 Visible nature is all plasticity and indifference, a multiverse, as one might call it, and not a
universe."
2. ^ Tegmark, Max (May 2003). "Parallel Universes". Scientific American.
3. ^ Tegmark, Max (January 23 2003) (PDF). Parallel Universes . Retrieved 2006-02-07. (PDF)
4. ^ a b c d "Parallel universes. Not just a staple of science fiction, other universes are a direct implication of cosmological
observations.", Tegmark M., Sci Am. 2003 May;288(5):40-51.
5. ^ http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0302/0302131v1.pdf
6. ^ Zyga, Lisa "Physicists Calculate Number of Parallel Universes" , PhysOrg, 16 October 2009.
7. ^ Tegmark, Max, The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: Many Worlds or Many Words? , 1998. Deutsch, David, David
Deutsch's Many Worlds , Frontiers, 1998.
8. ^ Tegmark, Max (January 23 2003) (PDF). Parallel Universes . Retrieved 2006-02-07. (PDF).
9. ^ J. Schmidhuber (1997): AComputer Scientist's View of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Lecture Notes in Computer Science,
pp. 201-208, Springer: IDSIA- Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence
10. ^ J. Schmidhuber (2000): Algorithmic Theories of Everything arXiv.org e-Print archive
11. ^ J. Schmidhuber (2002): Hierarchies of generalized Kolmogorov complexities and nonenumerable universal measures
computable in the limit. International Journal of Foundations of Computer Science 13(4):587-612 IDSIA- Dalle Molle Institute for
Artificial Intelligence
12. ^ J. Schmidhuber (2002): The Speed Prior: ANew Simplicity Measure Yielding Near-Optimal Computable Predictions. Proc. 15th
Annual Conference on Computational Learning Theory (COLT 2002), Sydney, Australia, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, pp.
216-228. Springer: IDSIA- Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence
13. ^ Steven Weinberg(2005)"Living in the Multiverse "
14. ^ a b Richard J Szabo, An introduction to string theory and D-brane dynamics (2004)
15. ^ a b Maurizio Gasperini, Elements of String Cosmology (2007)
16. ^ Paul Halpern, The Great Beyond, 2005
17. ^ Trinh, Xuan Thuan (2006). Staune, Jean. ed. Science & the Search for Meaning: Perspectives from International Scientists. West
Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Foundation. p. 186. ISBN 1599471027.
18. ^ Baird, Eric (2007). Relativity in Curved Spacetime. Chocolate Tree. p. 241. ISBN 0955706807.
19. ^ Lewis, David (1986). On the Plurality of Worlds. Basil Blackwell.
20. ^ Deutsch, Harry, "Relative Identity", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer '02), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
21. ^ Paul B. Kantor "The Interpretation of Cultures and Possible Worlds", 1 October 2002
22. ^ IngentaConnect Home
23. ^ The Australian National University
24. ^ Adi Setia (2004). "Fakhr Al-Din Al-Razi on Physics and the Nature of the Physical World: APreliminary Survey" . Islam & Science
2. Retrieved 2010-03-02
25. ^ John Cooper (1998). "al-Razi, Fakhr al-Din (1149-1209)" . Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Routledge). Retrieved 2010-
03-07
26. ^ Carl Sagan, Placido P D'Souza (1980s). Hindu cosmology's time-scale for the universe is in consonance with modern
science. ; Dick Teresi (2002). Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science – from the Babylonians to the Maya.
27. ^ "John Grant" interviewed by Lou Anders . Retrieved 24 October 2009.
28. ^ [Robert A. Heinlein: AReader's Companion, James Gifford, Nitrosyncretic Press, Sacramento, California, 2000.]
Bibliography [edit]
Bernard Carr, ed. (2007) Universe or Multiverse? Cambridge Univ. Press.
Deutsch, David (45841 1985). Splash. ed. Quantum theory, the Church-Turing principle and the universal quantum computer
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(Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A400 ed.). pp. 97–117.
Ellis, George F.R.; U. Kirchner, William R. Stoeger (2004). "Multiverses and physical cosmology" . Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society 347: 921–936. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07261.x . Retrieved 2007-01-09.
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